Sweet Hearts
by Unexpainable Awesomeness
Summary: Au. What secrets are Ian and Kyle hiding? What's wrong with Wanda? Will Kyle go for Sunny or will Jodi get his heart first? What's going on will Melanie and Jared? Will they get the happy ending they all want in the end, or will something haunting in their intertwined pasts push them all apart? T just for language. I never said no souls, though...
1. Chapter 1

Hello reader! This is my first story so be kind. Or not. Any criticism is fine. Now, for future reference, I TOTALLY ship o'wanda. I don't really know where this story will go, but this is just for what might happen. Also, I will switch POV. Maybe not often, but I will. What's in italics is a flashback. Ian is a freshman and Kyle would be a sophomore but his birthday's too late so he's also a freshman.

Ian POV

_I'm sitting in my Land Rover, staring at the blood on my hands. I look over at Kyle, wondering why he looks almost happy. _How did I get talked into this? _I thought. _And after all this time, why now?_ I wiped the blood off on a towel in the back seat and started the car, trying to get away. Away from the horror that will be burned into my mind forever now._

"IAN! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT UP! WE'LL BE LATE!" Kyle yelled. I stood up from where I was sitting on my new bed. In our new house. In a new state. Mourning my old life and thinking about what I could do to not have to go to my new high school. Yuck. _God help me. _I thought.

"I'M COMING!" I screamed as I grabbed my backpack and went downstairs, putting in my ear buds so I could block out Kyle. Again. He says I need to learn to listen. But if I listen to him, he ends up getting his nose broken by my fist. He just gets so annoying. I just want to be left alone to mourn. But Kyle, being Kyle, just _has_ to bug me.

Too bad his birthday's too late or he'd be a sophomore. So he's stuck in my grade. Yippy. We're pulling up to the school when I see this girl. She's short, like 5"3, with long, wavy blond hair, all the way down her back, walking as fast as she can beside a tall brunette. I hop out of the car and walk after her, with Kyle in tow.

She suddenly takes a sharp right turn down a hall filled with lockers. On the left is another hallway filled with classrooms and the office is there. Kyle pulls me in the office. We get our lockers and when I shove my crap in, I sprint to class, where the blond haired angle sits in a corner with some guys picking at her. I stop dead in my tracks when she looks my way.

Her huge (and I mean HUGE) blue-gray eyes are filled with tears and her cheeks are flushed from embarrassment. I walk over to her and through the jocks in the opposite corner, through them the death look, and sit down next to her.

I see her looking at me like I'm crazy sitting there, but I choose to ignore it. She needs a friend to stick up for her. And that friend will just have to be me.

The teacher starts talking about possibly History but I was too busy peaking at my neighbor. And I even caught her peaking at me, too, every once in a while. She's even more angelic up close. Finally, we only have a few minutes and the teacher lets us talk to each other. I turn the angle and my words are caught in my mouth. She's flipping her hair over her shoulder and I swear it's like in the movies. Time slows down as I watch her pick up her stuff.

"Wait." I say and she turns and looks at me, again, like I'm insane. "I'm Ian O'Shea."

She stares for a second and then mutters, "Wanda." And I motion for her to continue. She takes a deep breath and says, "Stryder."

"Where are you going next?"

"English with Mr. Daniels." 

"Cool. So do I. Let's walk together."

Do my eyes deceive me, or did I make a faint blush appear on her cheeks.

"O-ok." She stutters. Yep. We're friends.

We walk to ours lockers, and, ironically, we're locker neighbors. As we walk towards English, I see Kyle and he yells really loud, "Already got a girl? That was fast. She must be desperate, then." Everyone points and laughs. Poor Wanda, her face looked like it was about to burn off. I gently grab her arm and pull her behind me.

We get to English and Wanda sits beside the brunette she was running along side of this morning.

"Hey, Mel." Wanda says, her face still red, getting redder as Mel whispers something in her ear. "No Melanie. It's not what it looks like." As suspected, I'm the topic of discussion.

"Alright class." Says Mr. Daniels. He's kind of short and chunky, wearing a turtle neck does NOT look good, but it's a pretty funny thing to see. "We have a new student, Mr. Ian O' Shea."

The dude beside me, who had been staring at Melanie, looked over at me. He stuck his hand out and said, "Jared Howe. Nice to meet you, partner." I took his hand and shook. "Obviously, I'm Ian." He grinned. I think I've got another friend. I've got a good feeling about this year.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! Chapter 2, yay! =) I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Now, the reason I didn't put that The Host belongs to SM is because I don't think you people are stupid enough to think I own it (no matter how much I wish Ian was mine) so just if you were wondering, I'm not putting it there. Please enjoy. Or not. Either one. You don't have to read it.**

**Wanda POV**

_I lay there, motionless. They can't see me. If they do, who knows where I'll be sent then. I peek above the bush one more time, pick up my pack, and run for it. As I run, I run into something big. Fearing it's Zylen, I turn around and run for the woods instead of the road. Burns had his head through the window a little bit and quickly shoved it back in. I hear footsteps fast behind me, gaining on me. I push my little legs as fast as they can go. 6 feet to go. I can make it. 4 feet. The footsteps are faster, right on my heels. 2 feet. So close. I push even faster, holding my arm out to the nearest tree. I just touch the tree and hands grab my shoulders, pulling me off the ground. Another hand goes over my mouth, blocking my scream from hitting the calm night. I'm dragged back to the foster house, my throat soar from screaming._

_When we get in the house the hands leave and I run up stairs. I get to my room and lock the door. They start pounding the door, screaming for me to open the door. I open the window, my rope tied to the twin sized bed. They open the door as I'm half way down the house. They start climbing down. They get closer and closer. I let go of the rope and fall down to the ground._

"Wanda!" Melanie says as she shakes me awake. "You have to wake up. We have school today."

"Yuck." I groan and stick out my tongue. She laughs and walks out the door, throwing me a "get dressed" over her shoulder. I groan. I didn't sleep a wink last night. Another nightmare kept me up. Ever since that night, I haven't slept well in so long. I eventually get up and pick out a purple hoodie, skinny jeans, and my black high top converse. I go downstairs where Mel made me some waffles, chocolate chip, my favorite. Yummy!

"How did you sleep, Wanda?" Jamie asks as he runs into the kitchen, practically inhaling his waffles. For a fourteen year old, he sure acts like a four year old sometimes. He's so innocent.

"Fine, Jamie. I'm sure you slept fine, too, didn't you?"

"Yeah! How did you know?" He asked. He sleeps so deep it's like he's in a coma.

"Lucky guess." I say and start eating my waffles as we all grin. Jeb walks in, paper in hand.

"You kids better hurry up or you'll be late for school AGAIN." He looked pointedly at Mel.

"Hey it wasn't my fault! That guy wouldn't hurry up! It was all his fault!" We all laughed, knowing that she took too long trying to figure out what to eat. We got up, rinsing the syrup off our plates. I walked to the door, backpack in hand and waited for Jamie and Mel to come. Once we got our stuff, we walked to Mel's Honda CRV. We get to the middle school, where Jamie goes, and I wave at him through the window as he runs over to his friends. It makes me almost jealous, because I'm the nobody who doesn't have any friends. Melanie sticks up for me, but sometimes I'm all alone. I wish Burns was here with me. He was my only friend. Ever. We pull into the parking lot and Mel grabs my shoulders and turns me towards her.

"Hey, today won't be so bad today. You'll see."

"We have two minutes to get to our lockers and be on time to class. We better go." She rolls her eyes, but runs any ways. I go as fast as I can with the unnecessary weight of unimportant school work. As I run/jog, I here running footsteps behind, bringing back memories I can't revisit right now unless I want to have a break down. So I keep going. Mel goes to the bathroom while I head to my locker. Once I get my stuff, I go to my first period, Mrs. Carters for Beginners' Algebra. There's supposed to be a new kid so we'll probably get a free period. Which means extra homework tomorrow. Oh, joy.

I walk to my seat in the corner. I bend down and get my pencil and paper ready. When I look up, my tormentors are there. Lacey, the cheer captain who hates me so much for reasons unknown to me, sent her boyfriend, Drew, star football player, and two or three others over to me. I see Lacey and the other cheerleaders smirking at me from the corner of my eye.

The football players start poking at me and running their hands all over me. I'm so offended that I start to tear up. _No, Wanda,_ I thought._ You can't give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry._ I feel my face heat up, and then the door slams. Someone came in late. It doesn't really matter, though. Mrs. Carters isn't in here yet. I look up, the tears still in my eyes, and see a very handsome guy staring at me. His hair is dark black and his sapphire eyes are scorching.

He walks over very briskly and throws the jocks across the room. I stare, amazed that someone, besides Melanie, would do that for me. I look down as he turns around. I hear a thump and when I look over, he's sitting beside me. I'm baffled and probably look like a freak, looking at him like he's an idiot.

He looks away and I immediately have a faint blush on my cheeks for acting weird like that. I decide to watch as a half asleep Mrs. Carters comes in, mumbling a "good morning". She sits at her desk and starts talking about we're supposed to have a new student, hence the hot guy I've never seen before sitting beside me. She talks on and on about Algebra, basically to herself but I doubt she cares. I peek over at my new neighbor, and I even catch him peeking at me, too, every once in a while.

Finally, we only have a few minutes left and she stops talking, giving us time to "chat." I usually get bullied, but they steer clear of my side of the room, going to hang out over by the door. I throw my hair over my shoulder and pick up my stuff, getting ready to leave. As I start to walk away, I hear a "Wait." I turn and see the new guy staring at me. "I'm Ian O'Shea," he says. Finally, a name!

I stare at him a second and then I decide to mutter, "Wanda," but that's not good enough because he motions for me to continue. I take a deep breath to steady my nerves and say, "Stryder."

"Where are you going next?"

"English with Mr. Daniels."

"Cool. So do I. Let's walk together."

I faintly blush and stutter, "O-ok."

We walk over to our lockers when the bell rings and we just so happen to be locker neighbors, too. As we walk down the hall, I feel Ian tense and see a guy that looks exactly like him, except his nose is crooked. He sees Ian and says, "Already got a girl? That was fast. She must be desperate, then," I felt my face turn bright red. Did people really think we were a couple? On his first day? Wow, I never would have thought that. Ian must have known how embarrassed I was and made me keep walking.

We eventually got to class and I spotted Melanie in her seat, saving mine. She watched Ian as he went to sit beside Jared, who was too busy watching Melanie to notice, though. When I sat my stuff down and say, "Hey Mel." Melanie whispered back to me, "See, I told you today would be a good day. Now you've got a very sexy boyfriend to protect you." I pull away and she winks. I turn red and reply, "No Melanie. It's not what it looks like." She smirks and rolls her eyes.

"Alright class." Mr. Daniels says. Him and his turtle necks. They just don't work well with his body. I mentally shake my head. "We have a new student, Mr. Ian O'Shea." Everyone looks over to him and then quickly looks away, realizing he's the one who walked in with me. I heard Jared talk to him, though. Jared's a good guy who likes Melanie. I told her to go out with him and her response was, "If he wants to ask me out, he will do it himself." But they would be cute together. _Would Ian and I look good together?_ I wonder. _Why would I care?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again, I want to thank you for reading this. It makes me so happy. I'm sorry I didn't say this on chapter two, but special thanks to my first follower, princessjordan333, and also Redbird O'Howe, you're both so amazing, there are no words to describe you're greatness. Thanks to sheerio4ever for the review. I really hope you guys like it! If you have any ideas as to where this story should go or who's POV I should do, don't be afraid to tell me. I won't bite! Enjoy! =)**

**Melanie POV**

_Jamie lays in his bed, sound asleep. I can't bear to wake him, but I have to. We need to go. Now. I swear I saw something in the corner of his room, but I choose to ignore it. _Get a hold of yourself, Melanie._ I thought._ You're just being paranoid._ Paranoid. Yes, just being paranoid. I remember the strange blonde girl, all alone, in the store. I swear she looked younger than Jamie. Ever since then, everything's went downhill. Now, we have to leave home, go live with Uncle Jeb. He's sure to know what to do. I just hope we get there in time._

I walk to lunch, wondering where Wanda ran off to. I saw her in English, but then she basically ran out the door, the new kid, Ian I think, right behind her. I don't know why, but I've got a bad feeling about him, but I won't say anything.

I shrug and go to the cafeteria. The lunch special today just happens to be "beef" dippers. But who REALLY knows what it is. Oh well. At least they feed us. I see Lilly sit down at our table, pulling a red-faced Wanda into a seat. I walk over, immediately worried, and see tears streaming down her face.

"What happened?!" I say, a little louder than I meant it to be, and Wanda's tears fall faster. I take a deep breath and say quieter, "Hey, don't cry. What's wrong?" All she does is shake her head. I reach over and pat her arm as I get her calmed down. Behind me, I hear footsteps.

"Wanda? Are you ok?" Ian. The new kid. It's probably all his fault she's crying. I scowl at him and say, "We don't need you here. Go sit with the popular kids. That's where you want to be isn't it?" I stand up in my anger and get in his face. "And why would you care?! She probably doesn't even matter to you at all! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HER! Your nothing but a-"

"Melanie." A small, delicate hand grips me with, to her, is a strong grip, making me turn around. I look down to a red-faced, upset looking Wanda. All my anger immediately evaporates into the air as I look at her. "He can be here if he wants. He's my friend." I look at Ian, his face lights up when she says "friend." I scowl at him again and puff out a "fine" and stomp back to my seat. Wanda and Ian follow me. Wanda sits in front of me, Ian beside her. He went and got her lunch. Gag me, someone, anyone.

"So what happened, and whose ass do I have to kick." I say it as a statement because someone obviously did something to her.

"Mel, I'm ok. I just… over react too much." She looks down when she lies, and, surprisingly, her voice didn't break. I scoff.

"Of course someone did something to you. You were crying, Wanda. Do pull this bull on me." She grins a little.

"Fine," she takes a deep breath, for her fragile nerves," I'm walking to my locker with Lily and she goes down to her locker. I start walking down the hall, and Drew pulls me into the Science lab." I scowl, again, at Drew's name. "I say, 'What are you doing?' and he pushes me into a table thing and I hit my wrist against the sink. Then, he throws me into the wall and pushes me to the ground and starts to kick me. Finally, he stops and says, "Next time, stay in the corner where you belong" and leaves. Lily comes in, she forgot her binder, and helped me to the nurse and down here," she sniffs and wipes her eyes. Ian puts his arm, cautiously, around her.

She smiles a little. Lily and I hold her hands. "It's ok, Wanda. He won't hurt you again," says Ian. She eventually calms down and we talk about less touchy subjects. When lunch is over, Lily walks with Wanda out of the cafeteria. Ian stops me when I get up.

"Hey, which car is Drew's?" he asks. I stare at him for a second, amazed he actually cares.

"Orange 2013 Camaro. Left side of the parking lot. What are you going to do to it?"

He smiles evilly. "You'll see," and he walks out of the cafeteria.

_Maybe I was wrong,_ I thought as I walk out of the cafeteria, too, following the hallway my sister just walked through.


	4. Chapter 4

**Lucky you! Two chapters in one day! =) Go on. You deserve it, you loyal reader, you. You know you want to.**

**Kyle POV**

_I sat crouched behind their van. I think it's a Honda, no, THE Honda. Like that matters now. After what we've been through, does it matter that they kept the stupid, worthless van? No. Ian lightly punches my arm. It's clear. I pat his shoulder, seeing the familiar panic in his eyes, trying to reassure him we're helping them. We stand up and walk as fast as we can to the house and pull out the flashlights._

_No,_ I thought. _Now is NOT the time for stupid memories that do no good but give me guilt._ I keep walking down the hall. When I get to my locker, I pull out my phone to check the time and someone texts me. I look at the contact and immediately look at the message.

**Kyle, Go to the orange 2013 Camaro on the left side of the parking lot. Got someone that needs to learn a lesson.**

**-Ian**

I smile, knowing it has something to do with the girl I saw him with before lunch. I wonder what the guy did. It doesn't matter now, I'll see soon. I turn around and feel something bump into me and hear a "oomph" and something fall at my feet. I look down and see a small head surrounded by short, brown, red and brown hair. She's looking down at her books that I made fall out of her hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I was kind of zoned out." I bend down to help her with her books.

'It's ok. I wasn't paying attention, either. Lost in thought, I guess," she says. When she looks up, I'm met with huge, chocolate brown eyes. She's very pale, like ghostly white, and has pale pink lips. For the first time, probably EVER, I was speechless. She blushes and looks at her books, while I clear my throat.

"I'm Kyle, by the way," I smile and she laughs lightly.

"I know. You're the other new kid's brother. I have a few classes with him," she smiles a little back, which makes mine get bigger.

"The day's not over yet. Maybe we'll have a class together," her face lights up when I say that. "What's your name?"

She blushes, clearly embarrassed she didn't tell me sooner, "I'm Sunny. Sunny Anderson."

"Kyle O'Shea. Nice to meet you, Sunny. See you later," I say and keep walking, looking over my shoulder at her to see a faint blush on her cheeks, her face lit up again. I smile, happy to be able to make someone's day for once.

I turn the corner, met with another red head who isn't anywhere near as welcome as Sunny.

"Who were you talking to?!" Sharon asks angrily. She's so annoying and I'm the lucky guy who gets to listen to her all day. In EVERY class. Lucky me.

"A human. I think you should try it. It does wonders for you, especially if you're stuck with annoying people who just won't leave you alone," I said, looking at her pointedly. She just ignores me and keeps talking.

"I'm not going to let you ruin your reputation because people see you talking to mistakes like _her_. You need to hang out with popular people and people who actually _matter_, Kyle."

"I don't want to hear it, Sharon. Just let me have a moment of peace for God's sake!" I said, angrily walking to class. I walk in and, thankfully, I have this class with Sunny. I sit beside her, in the front, while Sharon walks by, not even acknowledging Sunny. But I don't care, because I have an amazing girl sitting here beside me.

And for the first time in a long time, I'm happy.


	5. Chapter 5

**First off, I'm so sorry I didn't post this yesterday. I was at my grandparents' house yesterday and they don't have Microsoft programs on their computers so I couldn't write. If you read my profile, though, you got to read the flashback for this chapter. Ok. ON WITH THE CHAPTER! Enjoy!**

Wanda POV

_I pick up my last suitcase and start towards the car. The shuffling behind me doesn't scare me anymore, like it did when we were little, or, in my case, smaller. I really do hate being short. And it's only ironic the first and only friend I ever made is a giant, red-haired, teddy bear. He's the only family I've got now. He takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. He knows I really like it here._

_I look up and I'm met with a pair of, once bright, now dim, dark green eyes. That color symbolizes family to me, because they are my brother's eyes, and they always brighten when I'm near. But we're leaving the first place I really felt both loved and hated. Where I felt like I had a real family. And Burns lived with us, making a perfect, dinner table family scene._

_I think I'll miss Mrs. Grahams the most. She was like a grandmother to me. To us. We will NOT miss her sons, Zylon and Damien. Zylon's the worst, though. I fear him more than Damien because Zylon stays there ALL the time. At least Damien only comes a few times a week. But they beat us all the time, for no good reason. That's why we tried to run, but they caught up to us. When I fell from the rope, I landed on a bush and ran for the car. I made it in, telling Burns to go._

_About 20 minutes later, they cornered us in a dead end. We had to go back there. We dearly love Mrs. Grahams, and we didn't want to leave her alone with these awful weasels called humans. But we just couldn't stay there, and we didn't want to go back to the orphanage. Our only option was to run. And even that didn't work._

_Burns looks at me, tears in his eyes. I vaguely thought he would kind of miss it here, too. And then his tears start to fall._

_"Shh, Burns. It's ok," I whisper as I hug him the best I can, considering our huge height difference. I feel him grin a little, "We'll be fine."_

_"Yes, we both will always be fine. No matter how much distance they put between us-" he stops abruptly. It doesn't sink in, though, not yet. I giggle a little but then I turn serious._

_"Burns, don't say that. We will never be apart," and then his eyes fill with tears again, whereas I can barely see now. "Burns, what are you saying?" I ask my throat thick with tears. He looks how I feel, heartbroken, angry, and sick of tears and sadness._

_"I'm so sorry, Wanda. They found someone in Arizona who wants to adopt you, but they think if we're together, we cause too much trouble. They're sending me to Chicago with Alecs. Hey, now. Don't cry, Wanda. I'm not worth it." But I can't stop. I can't believe they would take my only sanctuary, my only constant family from me. After everything we've went through together, I'm going to be alone again. And I cry on his shoulder until the drag me away, screaming, kicking, and crying for my brother to come with me._

_I try to clear my head, but it's hard with my wrist hurting so badly. Lily thinks I sprained it, so we're going to the nurse. To keep my mind off of the pain and to keep from crying again, I can't remember sad things. __Remember the rare moments you were happy, not sad.__ I thought._

_So I flip through my memories again, and find an old memory, pushed to the back of my mind, long forgotten. I decide to go to that instead of the most recent, sad memories._

_I laid in the grass while the sun shone on my smiling face. I closed my eyes, waiting for what I knew would come any second now. All of a sudden, I was picked up off of the ground and I screamed from happiness, no fear was in this action. I was put over the male's shoulder and he started running, with me smiling and giggling my head off._

_I open my eyes to see a small and attractive young woman, with long, flowing golden locks like mine and her hands on her large belly, smiling at us. "Mommy!" I scream, still smiling. Her smile grows wider. "Daddy, put me down!" I demand, still smiling and giggling. He chuckles and sits me on his shoulder._

_"As you wish, love," he says as he sits me down. I run over to my mother. She bends down and picks me up and I start to giggle again. She smiles as my father walks up, a satisfied smile on his young face._

_"Why's your belly big again, Mommy?" I ask, just so I can hear her voice. She chuckles and looks down at me._

_"Wanda, love, this is where your baby brother or sister is. I know I've told you before at least a million times," she says laughing at me. I blush._

_"I know, I just like to hear you say it," I say, still blushing. "I'm four now. I have to be more…matrue." My parents laugh._

_"That's __mature__, love," my father says, still chuckling at my mistake. Again, I blush from embarrassment._

_"Yeah, that. When will it be here? I want to meat it!" I say, getting excited._

_"Soon, Wanda. Soon," says my mother. And we hug, our last hug as a family._

_I realize I'm crying again. For the loss of my unborn sibling, my parents. Two weeks after this, they were in a car crash, killing them instantly. I was left alone in the world, no family was alive who wanted me so I was stuck in the foster home. In my third one, I met Burns, and we never left each other's side. Only at night because we all had separate rooms. We were playmates. Troublemakers. And when we got older, some said we were a couple, but that wasn't true._

_And then he was taken from me, too. I blocked out the world the whole way here. I ignored the adults' advice on the best way to get used to my new surroundings, but I didn't want to hear it. They took away the only family I really remember, for crying out loud! I didn't listen to them until they said we were ten minutes away from my new home. I decided to do what Burns would have wanted me to do, and I embraced my new life._

_Now look where I am. Walking to the school nurse because my new bully beat me. At least I'm used to the pain, though. We arrive to the nurse and she wrapped my wrist, saying that I need to be more careful. I told her I'd try. Like I want to feel pain._

_Lily helps me to my locker and my last class of the day, Math with Dr. Singer. We walk in, late, and give her our notes and sit down. All through class Lily gives me sheepish smiles and I give them right back to her. I tried, truly I did, to pay attention, but it just didn't interest me. Eventually, class ended and I walked out of class to find Melanie standing by the door, waiting for me._

_We start walking down the hallway and then Ian comes running over, picks me up, and runs back towards the parking lot. I'm too stunned to say anything so I just sit there and listen to his and Melanie's running footsteps. We go over to where Drew's car is. __Oh no._

_Ian puts me down and we jog towards the car. Kyle's there with Jared and Kyle's friends, Brandt and Aaron. __Aw man._

_They've got at least 10 gallons of gas, tools, and about 10 cans of black spray paint. __What are they DOING?_

_I continue to stare as a small girl, a little taller than me, comes running up, out of breath and smiles at Kyle. "They're coming," is all she says before we hear them._

_"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING AT MY CAR?!" we hear Drew scream as he come up, tied to a metal chair, and being carried by Andy, Kyle's other friend. As I stare, I feel myself shrink behind Ian because I know he'll protect me, if the need for protection rises. He grabs my hand that wasn't wrapped and squeezed. My heart leaped out of my chest._

_"What should have been done a long time ago," Ian says. He drops my hand and picks up a hammer, and walks towards the car._

_"What are you doing with that hammer?" Drew asks, eyeing the hammer._

_"This," Ian replies as he swings the hammer into the windshield of the car. He pulls back again and this time hits the passenger window. Everyone else picks up the other tools and starts beating the car, too, but Ian's the angriest of them all._

_When they stop, you can barely tell it's a car. Drew's jaw went slack when Ian first hit the windshield; I think he went into shock. Ian throws down the hammer and walks over to the gasoline, everyone else following in his lead. "What's with the gasoline?" Drew asks, his eyes wide with horror._

_They ignore him and walk back to the car, gasoline in their hands. Then, they pour it all over the car. When they finish, the car is soaked with gasoline. Kyle hands Ian a lit match and he throws it on the car. Everyone else lights a match and does the same. The car immediately sets fire and smoke is surrounding us to where I can hardly breathe._

_I didn't realize I was shaking until Mel walks over and engulfs me in a hug. That' s when I also realize I'm crying. Not for Drew or his car, but for my parents, my little sibling, Burns._

_I realize that Drew's burning car looks like what my parent's car looked like after the wreck. Burning, and the smell will always remind me of my parents' death. My sibling's death. My happiness' death._

_About 15 minutes later, they put out the fire, but I still smell the smoke in the air. I watch as they pick up the spray paint and write: __**No more bullying**__ on the juck pile of a car._

_After the finish, they untie Drew and Kyle picks him up by his shirt collar and gets in his face. "If you say ANYTHING about this to ANYONE-" He's cut off by Ian pulling him up._

_"I will personally wring your neck. You hear me?" he says in a deadly calm voice._

_"Y-yes," Drew stammers. Ian smiles._

_"Good. Now run along, before I strangle you right here," Ian says. And with that, Drew runs like the wind. Ian walks over to me and hugs me, too._

_"It's ok, Wanda. He won't hurt you again. I promise," and I believe him. Eventually, I hear Mel cough loudly and look at me. I look up to Ian as he lets me go, and I look back to Melanie._

_"Come on, Wanda. Jeb's probably wondering where we are," I look back to Ian and smile. He smiles back, and Mel grabs my unwrapped wrist and pulls me across the parking lot to her car._

_And, strangely, I feel sad as I walk away from Ian. I feel like I'm missing something important, but I can't think of what it would be._


	6. Chapter 6

**As I promised, you get yesterday's chapter AND today's. Again, LUCKY YOU! I saw I have a new follower. Welcome AmyOShea! I hope everyone reading this story likes it. Even if you hated it, I would still write it (maybe). It would at least still be on my flash drive. BTW, the underlined part is a dream. Enjoy the chapter! =)**

**Ian POV**

_I walked around the kitchen of the little, run-down, New York City apartment. I told Kyle its fine, but I hope we don't stay too long. It makes me wary, staying in one area too long. I don't care much for the nomadic life either, but you do what you have to do. They can't find us._

_We've been on the run for a year. I want to go home, but I won't dare tell Kyle that. He'll get angry and throw all the shit we are trying to escape in my face. And that's a trait I wish didn't exist. At least in him because I'm stuck with him. Thank God its summer and I get a break from the care-free assholes that are my "peers."_

_We better leave soon, though. I don't think I can tolerate these kids anymore. They all seem to be too immature for words. And they're all the same, short, fat, immature, stupid, and annoying. I don't want to be mean, but it's true, and Kyle knows it._

_Speaking of Kyle, here comes the Grinch himself. Grunting a "hey," he walks to the fridge and pulls out a bear. We're still too young to drink, but Kyle's real tall, like I am, so he passes off as twenty-one. He's still got a few years, though. I mean, we'll just be freshmen in high school when summer's over._

"_Kyle, I think we should leave soon," I said. I'm nervous, nervous as hell, but I really think we should._

"_And why is that?" he asks, drinking down half his beer in one gulp. Uh oh. I don't have an answer to that so I stay silent. He starts to laugh._

"_Ian, you're being paranoid. Live a little. Get a girlfriend or something."_

"_I suggest you do the same, then. Kyle, you hate it here, too. You say it EVERY day!"_

"_Maybe I do," he stands up, beer in hand. He's getting angry now. "Maybe I do. But won't it look a little suspicious if we just up and leave at the beginning of summer? And where do you suggest we go, huh?" I expected this question. I had been researching small towns for the past two weeks. And I think I found the perfect place. It's got a high school so we can still finish our education, and I've never heard of it before so no one really knows it exists, I guess._

"_This place in Arizona, Picacho Peak. It's a small town in the middle of nowhere." He stares at me for what feels like hours, and I stare back, my stubbornness kicking in, making me feel fearless. Eventually, he nods._

"_We'll leave once we find a place there."_

"_I found a little house across the street from some popular diner-place. It's bigger than this and two thousand dollars cheaper than this shitty hole," again, he nods._

"_Ok, then we'll leave when we get the paper work settled," And we actually smile at each other. I knew he hated it here._

I watch Wanda as Melanie pulls her towards her car. Wanda keeps looking back at me and I stand there, a faint smile on my lips, a deep blush on her cheeks, and she smiles a little, too. Kyle walks up and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"That was one hell of a reaction we got out of him!" he says, but I'm not listening. I'm watching Wanda get in the passenger seat of Mel's car and wave at me. My smile grows wider as I wave back. Even from here, I can tell she's blushing.

"I think he'll leave her alone now," Jared says, coming to stand beside me, and I know he's watching Melanie, not Wanda, but I start to get a little jealous any ways.

"I think we should all go now. Get rid of the car and the tools, too. Just in case he tells someone," I say. I really don't want to be forced to leave the first place I've called home in a long time.

"Yeah we need to finish while we're all here," Kyle says. Jared sighs and we all walk back to the car. Somehow, we get it all the way into the big moving truck we rented. We get in and drive everything to the dump. Getting the car out is much easier than getting it in, by the way.

As soon as we finish, we all get back in the moving truck. Sunny says that she's hungry so we stop at Burger King and get something to eat. After we eat, we take everyone home.

When Kyle and I eventually get home, I go and take at least 20 showers until I stop smelling like smoke. Then, Kyle gets in there. By then, I fell asleep in the shower four times so I decide to go to bed. I walked over to my bed and fall asleep before my head even hits the pillow.

**Wanda POV**

I'm standing in a meadow. The sun is shining on me. I hear the birds chirping as I run along the beautiful meadow. I bend down to pick a pretty pink flower when a big hand gently grabs my wrist. I look up and I see it's just Ian.

"There's a more beautiful flower than any of them this way. I can show you, if you want." I nod my head and he grins. That grin makes my heart race. His hand slides down to hold my hand and we walk towards the trees, a forest.

As we walk farther into the forest, we slow down. I look around and see beautiful animals that I've never seen before. I look up to him and he's smiling at me, pointing in front of us. When I look, I see my parents. In my mother's arms, there's a little blanket that looks like it hold a baby.

I run to them, pulling Ian along with me. My parents smile at me while I tear up. My mother steps forward and wipes away the tears falling down my cheeks.

"Don't cry, Wanda, dear. Not for us," she smiles. "Be happy, Wanda."

"You deserve it," Ian whispers in my ear. An uncontrollable shiver runs through my body. My father takes my hand out of Ian's and Ian wraps his arms around my waist.

"Let us go, love," my father, the strong man who picked me up as a child, who held my hand as my mother bandaged up my skinned knees and elbows, who never made me grow up. Who left me to grow up and grow cold towards others. But I looked them both in the eyes. Everything was blurry again from more tears coming.

"I will. I love you, though. Always." I say as I hold back the sobs. They smile again.

"We love you, too, our dearest Wanderer. Travel far and wide. Learn to love again," they say in unison and then they were gone.

And all I saw was blackness. I felt arms wrapped around my waist, rocking me back and forth, like swaying to nonexistent music. I finally realized it was Melanie. I opened my eyes to look at her. She looked at me, too. Her hand came into view and she wiped away the tears I had cried in my dream and in real life.

I told her about my dream and she listened to me. She smiled and patted my shoulder.

"I think you've decided to move on with your life, but you're just too stubborn to admit it. The best way you could tell yourself the truth was when you wrere unconscious. I hope I helped, but I don't know what to say. I'll let you think, Wanda," she smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Thanks, Mel. Good night."

"Good night." Once she left, the only thing left playing repeatedly in brain was my new mantra that I narrowed down to one thing.

_We love you, too, our dearest Wanderer. Travel far and wide. Learn to love again._

_Travel far and wide. Learn to love again._

_Learn to love again._

_Learn to love again._


	7. Chapter 7

**I want to thank you guys for your reviews (yes, I did cry at Wanda's dream), but I want to welcome catnip851. Thank you for your review and favorite. I want to also thank my regulars, too. Couldn't let you get jealous like Ian. ;) Hope you like the chapter!**

**Melanie POV**

_I walked out of the alleyway, Jamie in tow. We had to stop in the alley so he could puke. Gross. It was only because of his nerves. At least he told me first. I do feel sorry for the rats he puked on. Hope it rains soon for their sake._

_I really hope we make it to Uncle Jeb's house soon. He called and said he adopted this girl a few days ago. I want to be there when she gets there, help show her around. We'll be living there, too, now._

_We get back to the car and we start our journey again, hoping we'll be there soon._

I walk back to Wanda's room. This will be the third time tonight. In her first dream was of her parents, telling her to live her life. The last one was when they died. She said the car was there, but they were still in there. I really hope she's ok.

I don't bother knocking; she's unconscious so she can't hear me. I'm surprised, though. Jamie's sitting there, holding a crying Wanda, comforting her like I have all night. He looks at me and mouths "go back to sleep. I got her." I smile at my little brother. He's always trying to keep her happy. And I think she is happy.

So I walk back down the hall and try to sleep. And hopefully I won't have any nightmares like Wanda.

**Kyle POV**

_Ian's sound asleep, sprawled out on his back. I feel bad, making us leave the only home we've ever known. But we did what we had to do. I'm taking us to Arizona tomorrow, so I told him to go to bed early. Stubborn baby pouted until he fell asleep, like 5 minutes later._

_I chuckle. He's a lot like me, but he refuses to admit it. He says I'm cruel, but I'm not. It's just I'm alone and it's kind of sad. He just doesn't get it. "The Karate Kid" is on, the old one. Not the new, crappy one with Jaden Smith (you know, the kid who always looks high) but the old one. You know "wax on, wax off?" Whatever. Who cares if you know it or not._

_But I'm watching this, and I get inspired to be a better brother to Ian._

_If I like it in Arizona, I think we'll stay._

I'm laid out on my bed. Ian's asleep; I can hear him all the way on the other side of the house. Granted, it's a small house but still. I can't fall asleep. I keep thinking about the anger that was in my brother's eyes earlier. I don't even know what the guy did!

I should've asked. It just didn't come to mind. Well, I just hope he didn't tell anyone. Then we'll all be sent off. I'm shocked, but I really do like it here. I don't know if it's just because I have friends…like Sunny… but I like it a hell of a lot better than New York City. It was too crowded there.

I look over at my desk where my clock is. 1:00 AM. WHY CAN'T I SLEEP?! I don't get it. If Ian can, I should be able to, too. I stare down my clock. I don't really remember when I did, but the next thing I knew, my eyes were closed and I heard "Rocky" come on. _Why are all these movies coming on?_ I vaugly thought before I fell into a dreamless sleep

**AN: This was a boring chapter, I know. But I needed to fill the space with something for the next chapter. Sorry for the boringness. BTW, Jaden Smith DOES always look high. In, like, EVERY picture. ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Again, sorry for the boring chapter before this one, but I kind of needed a fill-in chapter for this one. Thank you for all the reviews. They always make me laugh. Enjoy this one! PS: Like the new POV?**

**Jodi POV**

I'm standing at the bus stop, watching the video of those guys destroy Drew's car. It's pretty funny, but Sam's getting annoying.

"I just can't believe they actually did that!" she squeals in my ear, her chin resting on my shoulder as she watches it with me. _Oh my god, they're going to burn the car. _And then they throw the matches on it.

It's kind of freaky to see. I see a small blonde girl crying on a Melanie Stryder's shoulder. She's probably freaked out, like I am. And I wasn't even there. No one knows who did it. They'll probably get suspended for it. If they're caught.

The bus pulls up the street and I hand Sam her phone back. We climb on the bus and everyone's talking about the video. Eventually, I pull out my headphones and listen to my favorite band, Paramore. They're just amazing. I love their newest album, but I think my favorites are "Still Into You", "Fast In My Car", "Part ii", and "One of Those Crazy Girls." "Pressure" and "Crushcrushcrush" are still some of the best, too.

We get to school and Sam tries to talk to me, but I can't hear her. (headphones, Sam). We get to my locker, her still talking, me still jamming out to Paramore. I close my locker and go to class. We walking and Sharon Stryder took my seat. She's sitting beside a very agitated looking Kyle O'Shea.

Sharon and I have been in school together since kindergarten, when I punched her in the nose for shoving Sam out of her way. Sam's too sweet to say anything, but I'm not. I slide my headphones off my head around my neck and stomp over to her.

"Hey, Sharon. Remember last year when you broke three teeth and busted your lip in "cheer practice?" You'll do it again if you don't get out of my seat. And move your bitchy minion out of my sister's seat." She glares at me and moves to the other side of the room, her minion behind her. I motion for Sam to sit beside me in her regular seat. Kyle leans over and whispers, "Thanks. I owe you one," I look over at him and he smiles. I smile a little back.

"Really? I did it because she deserves to get her ass kicked more than twice a year. That's when she gets too annoying for me to stand it," I wink at him. He laughs out loud (and I mean LOUD) at this and everyone stares at us. I scowl at them and the turn away. Sharon doesn't even look our way. Good.

"That's great. Really, it is," he says, way too loud for a normal conversation, but just fine for this guy. My smile grows bigger and bigger until I actually start to laugh with him. I'm out of breath by the time we calm down enough to keep talking again.

"Shoo," he says, wiping his eyes. It wasn't that funny, but I think we just had so much built up energy, that's how we got it all out. He looks at me again. "What's your name?"

"Jodi Grayson. And I'm going to take a wild guess here and say you're Kyle O'Shea."

"Yes I am," again, he chuckles. I never knew I was funny. But, then again, I'm the total opposite of Sharon, so maybe I am. Huh. Who would have guessed I was funny. "What class do you have next, Jodi?" I smile with him.

"I have the joy of going to another Class in Hell because I'm stuck with Sharon the next two periods. Yippy," his smile grows bigger again."What?"

"I'm stuck with her then, too. So we're stuck in the same shitty row boat. At least I'm stuck with you. You're much better than Sharon, though," he adds quickly and he stiffens, afraid to get me mad. I smile at him and he relaxes. Sadly, class starts so we have to listen. I didn't though. I peeked at Kyle the whole time. And he would peek at me, too, sometimes.

Finally, class ends and I wave at Kyle as Sam pulls me towards our lockers.

"Well, well, well Ms. 'I'm not Charming' has got her a boy head over heels for her." I scowl at her.

"He's my friend, stupid. Need I remind you of Gabe?" She blushes from anger. That was one love story down the toilet. With Gabe going down with it.

"We don't talk about that, remember?" I laugh at her face. It looks like a fat tomato about to explode. She somehow manages to get redder. I get my stuff and we walk silently to class. She goes to English while I walk off to Home Ec. I have it with Kyle. Before I can think about it, a smile appears on my face as I walk into class.

Kyle's face has a scowl on it as he screams at Sharon. "I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT OF MY FACE! DON'T YOU HAVE EARS? GO BUG SOMEONE ELSE!" It doesn't seem to affect her except to make her pissy.

"Fine, Kyle. FINE! I'll go away!" and she storms off. I walk over to Kyle and he seems to relax a lot when he sees me. He even smiles. My heart races.

"What a bitch," I say loud enough for her to hear, but she ignores me. He chuckles.

"Tell me about it. At least she's going to leave us alone. I totally told her off. I just couldn't take it anymore, you know?" I think about everything she's had done to fix her face after I let my rage take over me.

"I totally know what you mean." He smiles and I smile back. Turns out we'll be partners in this class the rest of the year. At least Sharon's not my partner. Who knows what we'd cook. It also turns out I'm pretty good at making chocolate chip pancakes. Yum-oh!

After class, I (sadly) say bye to Kyle and go off to find Sam to get lunch. I find her at our lockers and after she asks about why Sharon's pissed, we walk to lunch, laughing at the picture.

We get lunch and start over to our table in the corner when I feel a huge and wrap around my forearm. I turn around, about to cuss the ass off this guy, when I see it's just Kyle.

"Yeah. Come on, Jodi. Lets eat with them today."

"Ok," and Kyle's smile is so big and bright, I'm afraid he'll blind someone. We walk over to his table and I see his brother, Ian, with the blonde girl in the video who was crying, Melanie, Sharon's much better liked cousin, Jared, this girl with short hair I've never seen before, Brandt, Aaron, and Andy. _How did they get football players to be their friends?_ But before I can ponder this thought much, Sam and I are bombarded with questions.

"Hi, I'm Ian, Kyle's brother. This is Wanda," he gestures towards the blonde girl and smiles and waves. "Melanie, Jared, Sunny, Brandt, Aaron, and Andy. Who are you?" They stare expectantly. I smile back.

"I'm Jodi and this is my sister, Sam," Wanda seems to recognize Sam, I mean she looks at her and smiles really big, so I just assume.

"I remember you! You were my friend when I was in Tennessee!" she smiles even bigger and so does Sam.

"Yeah! I remember you, too! How's Burns?" Wanda's smile falters. "What? What happened to him?" Sam asks, immediately concerned. Wanda's eyes fill with tears.

"They sent him to Chicago with Alecs, you know, the little kid who's a few years younger than us, when they sent me here," she starts sobbing. "They said *hitchy breath* that together *hitchy breath* we were too much *hitchy breath* to handle." Sam practically throws her food at me and runs to Wanda's side and gives her a hug. Melanie, Sunny, and Sam take her to the bathroom. I just stand there, just as lost as the others. They look at me like I know what they were talking about.

"Who was Burns?" Ian asked through clenched teeth. I shake my head.

"You'll have to ask Sam. I really don't know. My parents adopted her the summer before kindergarten. She told me about some of her friends, but not all of them. I've never heard of Burns before so I couldn't tell you who he is. Melanie or Sunny probably can if Sam or Wanda don't," They shake their heads. I sit Sam's food down beside Wanda's and start to eat.

It's silent around the table for about 5 minutes before they get back. Wanda, Sam, and Melanie act like nothing happened, so we all try to, too. Kyle eventually gets too curious so he looks at Wanda.

"Can you tell me who Burns is?" Wanda stops eating and looks at him, wide eyed. She didn't cry, though.

"He was like my only family. I called him my brother and he called me his sister. We went everywhere together because we didn't have any siblings," a tear slid down her cheek. "My parents died in a car accident in Tennessee, that's where I was born, when I was four. My mom was pregnant with my baby sister or brother, we didn't know yet.

"I didn't have any family left so I was sent to the orphanage. That's where I met Burns and Sam," She looks back down at her food. "Burns and I went to the same families, same state, everywhere. The last family we were together with was the one before I came here. It was an old lady. She was like a grandma. We would have stayed, if her sons didn't exist.

"They would hit us and kick us all the time. We tried to run, but they caught us. They sent us back to the orphanage. The day we were supposed to go to an orphanage in Philadelphia, Jeb adopted me. And.." she's quiet a few seconds."And that's when they sent Burns to Chicago. They didn't tell Jeb about him. I don't know where Burns is now. I haven't talked to him since." She looks up at us. Ian hugs her as some more tears fell.

Before we know it, we're all laughing again and having fun. That's (of course) when lunch ends. Kyle walks with me to class. He looked just as sad to leave me as I felt.

And as he walked away, I think he took my heart with him.


	9. Chapter 9

**So my long weekend (we've got Monday off) is starting to come to a close. =( But I'm writing again today because I have nothing better to do. I'm just so bored today. So you get ANOTHER chapter today! As usual, I hope you enjoy this! Also, don't hate me by the end!**

**Wanda POV**

_We just stayed on the bed. After all of this, we were afraid if we moved the moment would shatter and reality would kick in. I fell asleep and woke up to Burns, his face inches from mine, his hand on my heart. He smiled when I opened my eyes._

"_I didn't want to wake you up, but I got worried. You've been asleep for 4 hours. I wanted to make sure you were still ok." I smiled. He took his hand away and cleared his throat. I was still wrapped in the bed sheets. At least he had clothes on. _Do I?_ I thought. _Nope._ He cleared his throat again and I looked at him again._

"_I'll just…um…go downstairs. No one came home yet. You might want to get dressed again. Just because I don't know when they're coming back," he was blushing and I, for once, wasn't. Maybe it changed me more than I thought it would._

The school day was FINALLY over. I have last period with Sam. I don't know how I missed her and didn't know it was her. The last name probably just messed with my brain. I wasn't told what her new last name was going to be before she left.

I walked down the hall, talking to my old friend, when I saw Ian leaning up against my locker. I know my face lit up because his did, too. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest. Sam gently nudged me and when I looked at her, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. I immediately blushed, so much my face probably burned off.

Ian walked over to us, a smile on his face that made me smile. He hugged me, "Sorry we made you cry at lunch, Wanda. We didn't know," he whispered into my hair.

"It's cool. No one knew, not even Mel knew. I do feel better after telling people, though," he pulled back and I smiled. Then, his smile reappeared. He looked over at Sam and said, "It's good that she has a friend here that knows everything she's been through and help her. Because I didn't go through what she did and I don't think I could help her like you can," they smiled at each other (which made me sort of jealous) and they smiled at me, so I smiled, too.

"I better go hunt down Kyle. Bye guys," he hugged me again and ran off. And I swear I saw him blushing.

**Kyle POV**

_We walked through the little house. For the fifth time. Today. I just can't decide if I want to be on a busy street like this. Ian says we should get it. But this is IAN we're talking about so…yeah. I turned around and looked at the fat guy (aka: Fatty McFatter) whose showing the house to us._

"_We'll take it," I say and Ian jumps in the air, fist held high. He kind of looked like Mario._

"_YES!" he screams. Fatty McFatter cringes and does a nervous laugh, which he's done ALL day long, and pulls out the paperwork. I take out the check and sign the dotted line. Ian runs across the street to get celebratory ice cream at the popular diner-thing that's over there._

I'm walking down the hall, looking for Jodi, when I find Sunny at her locker.

"Hey, Sunny. Have you seen Jodi?" she looks up at me, tears in her eyes, and points ahead of me. I immediately feel like an ass for not seeing her tears and asking about Jodi and not her. "What's wrong?"

"I was thinking about what happened to Wanda, that's all," she lied, very badly, I might add. I stare at her until she breaks a few seconds later.

"Ok." She sobs. "Lacey and the other cheerleaders came and look what they did to my locker!" Everything in it was sticky.

"What is that?"

"Glue. GLUE! They poured GLUE in my LOCKER because I was there when the car was burned. At least I moved before they poured it down my clothes. That's what they were going to do, but I moved before they could, so it went in my locker. Jodi saw so she screamed 'BITCHES!' and she chased them away, but she hasn't come back.

"I'm trying to clean it up, but it won't come off. The glue dried before I could get it all off. You better go to Jodi, though. She could get hurt,"

At that, I was running down the hall as fast as I could.

**Jodi POV**

I run after them, those bitches were messing with Sunny. Poor, defenseless Sunny. They haven't seen Hell until I show them. I keep running after them, as fast as I can without killing myself. I gain on this one girl, so I tackle her and smash her face on the floor and keep after the others.

I get two at once, pull them by their hair, and smash their faces into the lockers.

_One more._ I start running again, Lacey's the last one. She turns down the next hallway so I turn. When I turn, I'm met with a huge fist, definitely not hers.

And everything's black, all I hear is her laugh.

_I'm sitting at my desk at home. Reading the next chapter of my current fanfiction. I think it's amazing and there's 50 chapters! All because I took it over when she wanted to stop at 15. I wouldn't let that happen._

_Yes, I knew it was my story, but that's what made it amazing. Because I knew what would happen._

I open my eyes to Kyle's face, twisted with rage. Obviously, it can't be at me, I was knocked out by a guy. That was most likely Drew, but it could've been anyone. I see his mouth moving, but I don't hear anything. I wonder why I can't hear, until I hear voices. Kyle stops talking and looks to his right. Light is everywhere and it's dizzyingly bright.

I can't turn my head, I tried, but it wouldn't move, so I can't see who he's talking to. Then, I can hear his voice. It's like the volume was on mute and someone decided to turn it up, because they wanted to know what was being said. I can hear again, but I really only hear Kyle, he's so loud.

"WHY WOULD YOU HIT A GIRL?! I WOULDN'T! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER!" everyone else stops talking to stare at him. It doesn't faze him, though. He keeps on going. "THAT BLOW COULD HAVE KILLED HER!" I feel small arms wrap around my waist and pick me up. I realize I was leaned up against the lockers.

Once I'm standing, Kyle storms in my direction, picks me up bridal style, and runs off. I hear Sunny, Ian, and other voices yelling for him to stop. My head is rested against his shoulder. This is also when I realize I'm bleeding. A lot.

We suddenly stop and he opens a door. He yells for someone, I didn't hear the name, and I see a woman in scrubs. I see the nurse's office and the girls I threw. I attempt a smile, but I can't lift my left cheek. I try to say, "can I see what I look like" but it comes out like, "an I ee a oo ike?" The nurse tells me to try and not talk and I nod, but then I feel like I might puck. Good thing there was a trash can there because I puck for at least a minute, half of my puck was blood.

I heard a scream as I fell back. I felt hands lay me back down. As I was laid down, I saw Wanda, Mel, and Sunny, looks of horror on their faces. I immediately knew it looked bad. Then, Wanda fell back, Ian catching her before she hit the floor. I know what happened to her, but I can't remember what it's called.

I can't remember anything. The world starts to get fuzzy. I see Kyle arguing with the nurse but, again, I can't hear.

The room starts to go black as Kyle walks back to me and grabs my hand in both of his.

The world goes black, and I am nothing, fading away, bit by tiny bit.

And everything is gone.


	10. Chapter 10

**I want to welcome Blondie2595 to the list of 'Readers I Know Exist' for favoriting me. Thanks to Redbird O'Howe, you get the next chapter! You rock! =) I want to apologize for my typing mess-ups. Microsoft word sometimes confuses me. The italics in this one is after Kyle ran after Jodi. ON WITH THE CHAPTER! =)**

**Kyle POV**

_I pushed myself to run as fast I could go. I had to get to Jodi. She couldn't get hurt. As I go down the hall, I saw some cheerleaders on the ground, blood all over the floor. I knew I was going the right way. I ran past them towards the end of the hall._

_I hear laughing, a squishing sound, and a thud. "JODI!" I yell as I turn right. I stop dead in my tracks when I see her on the ground. I fall on my knees and crawl over to her. I hold her as I take in her injuries. Her left cheek's skin is sickeningly hanging of her jaw. Her knuckles and nose is bleeding. I hear running behind me but I don't care. There stands Drew, hands covered in blood, Jodi's blood. I lay her against the lockers and stand up. _

_I walk to where he is and give him the fiercest scowl that's probably ever been seen on a human face. He cringes away from me. I can't hold back anymore. I lunge, knocking him to the ground. I punch until my knuckles are probably bleeding, too. Ian and Jared grab my shoulders and yank me off of him._

_They hold me back for about 3 minutes before I end up stalking back over to Jodi. She's still laying there, unconscious. I hold her in my arms until I hear softer footsteps behind me. A small hand rests on my shoulder."Drew wants to talk to you, Kyle," Sunny says gently. I look at her. She has sadness written all over her face, in her eyes._

_I lay Jodi up against the lockers again and stare at her a minute. Her eyelids flutter a little. I perk up a little. Then, Drew yells, "Kyle!" I turn around sharply and stare at him murderously. "WHAT?!" I yell. Everyone but Drew jumps. "I know it looks bad, but it can't be that bad," I can't believe he just said that._

"_THIS-" I point to her dangling cheek," doesn't look bad?! HOW does that look fine? TELL ME!"_

"_Kyle, calm down," Sunny says, trying to soothe me. That doesn't really help, but it's nice she's trying._

"_Kyle-"Ian starts before he's cut off._

"_She'll get better, Kyle. Don't worry, she's strong," someone says, but I really only hear one voice._

"_She'll be fine, Kyle, relax," Drew says hatefully. I can't take it anymore. I just have to ask him. I stand up and stalk towards him and talk in his face._

"_WHY WOULD YOU HIT A GIRL?! I WOULDN'T! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER!" everyone stops talking and stares at me. I don't care, I just keep talking. "THAT BLOW COULD'VE KILLED HER!" "Like you would care," I mumble under my breath as I walk over to where Jodi is. Sunny's trying her best to hold her up, but she's about to drop her. She's awake so I think the best thing to do would be for her to go to the nurse. I pick her up bridal style and run to the nurse. _

_They're screaming for me to stop, but she needs the nurse NOW. I keep going until I get there. When I walk in, the girls that were in the hallway were sitting there on the bed-thing. "MOVE IT!" I shout at them. They all jump off and stand in a corner while I lay Jodi on the bed._

_She tries to talk, but it sounds like ," an I ee a oo ike" the nurse tells her not to talk, so she nods. She puts her head in the trash can and pucks. When she's done, halfof it is blood. Everyone comes in and Wanda screams. I look over at her in time to see her faint and Ian catch her. _Knight in shining armour.

_I look at the nurse. "Call the ambulance." She looks at me like I'm crazy. I say it again._

"_She needs stitches, I can do that," she mumbles. This lady's insane. Jodi could DIE!_

"_You call or I will," we stare each other. She sighs and picks up the phone and dials 911. I look back at Jodi, but her eyes are closed now. "Jodi?" I hear the nurse talking in the background but all I want to hear is Jodi's breathing._

_I put my hand under her nose. A feel a faint whisper of a breath. _Thank God._ We can't do anything else so we stand there and wait for the ambulance. It's driving me insane, just standing there, not able to help her._

_Finally, we hear footsteps in the hall. Sunny goes out and motions them in. They walk in with a stretcher. I pick up Jodi, still barely breathing, and put her on the stretcher._

_They take her out in the hallway and go towards the ambulance. By the time they get there, it's past 4:30 and I'm scared she won't make it. I go to the car and drive to the hospital._

_I'm following the ambulance, everyone else is driving behind me, and we pull up to the front of the hospital. I get out of the car when everyone else is parking. Wanda gets out of Jared's car with Ian, Sunny, Melanie, and Jared. Andy, Brandt, and Aaron get out of Andy's car._

_We all run into the hospital and ask for Jodi. She's in ICU so we can't see her yet. We all stay there until about 9 when they told us we had to go home. When we got home, Ian went straight to bed. I sat up watching TV. The only thing on was "Pride and Prejudice" with Kiera Knightly._

_By the end, I had zoned out and thought about Jodi. How she smiled, how she laughed….How she looked almost dead the last time I saw her._

_I really hope she's ok._

**Jodi POV**

**A Week Later**

I woke up, my left cheek was numb. I tried to move, but I had IV's in my arms. I had the oxygen thing in my nose. I groaned. I was so soar.

"Thank God," I turned my head to the right and saw Kyle sitting in a chair that looked very uncomfortable. He stood up and I heard all his joints pop. _How long has he sat there?_ When he gets to me, he holds my hand. He just smiles at me. I didn't even remember I was soar.

The door opened and Ian, Wanda, Sunny, and Melanie walk in with all kinds of snack foods. My stomache growls. _How long was I out of it?_ Kyle chuckles.

"Hungry?" I just stare at him. "You can talk. It won't mess with your stitches. They took them out yesterday." I smile.

"Yes I'm hungry. If you couldn't tell by my stomache, I could eat my body weight times 10." They all laugh.

"Good to have you back, Jodi," Wanda says. She smiles at me, so I smile back. She's a good girl. As we smile, I see Ian watching her, more like admiring her. When he sees me watching him, he blushes and looks away.

We all sit there and talk. I find out I was out for a whole week. Drew got suspended for two months. And I said damb. The nurse came in and refilled my IV's. For the third time since I wake up. She's getting annoying. Eventually, they had to leave so I could "get some sleep" as the nurse said. But I wasn't tired.I've been asleep for a week.

They all get up, walking out of my door with smiles on their faces. Kyle stays behind, though. He walks back up to me.

"Get better, Jodi," I smile.

"I will try my best," He smiles, too. Then, he leans down and kisses my forehead, turns around really fast, and basically runs out the door.

And his face was tomato red, exactly like mine.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for scaring you guys with Jodi, but there needs to be SOME drama in this! Life has to kick in sometimes. It took me a while to write it. I couldn't decide where I wanted the story to go, but I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve. ;) Be warned for future reference! Enjoy!**

**Sunny POV**

_I saw Jodi's eyes open and look around. I felt so bad for her. She didn't deserve this. She couldn't move her neck, it would ripe her cheek off. *shudder* It grossed me out, but I went over to her and picked her up the best I could._

_Once she was off the ground, it got harder to hold her up. I felt my arms shaking from her weight. The blood gushing from her cheek, dripping down her face and body, wasn't helping, either._

_Kyle was still screaming at Drew, even when he saw us. When he stopped yelling, he stormed towards us, picked up Jodi, and ran down the hall._

"_KYLE!" Ian yelled after him, jogging after him. That's when Wanda and Melanie came with Jared, Aaron, and Brandt._

"_What's going on?" Wanda, so innocent, asked, timidly staring at the blood on the floor and Drew's face, hand, and arms covered with blood from when Kyle attacked him. Ian pulled her into a hug._

"_Jodi…fell really hard. Kyle was taking her to the nurse," Her eyes got at least 10 times bigger._

"_Well what are we waiting for? We need to make sure Jodi's ok!" and with that, she ran down the hall. Mel and I called after her as Ian ran behind her. Mel and I exchanged looks and ran after her, too._

_We got there before they did because Wanda had to stop. She wasn't used to running so fast and so far so she had to catch her breath. Then, she ran on with Melanie, me trailing behind them, Ian in tow._

_We got in there to see Jodi puking her guts out. We saw the blood and Wanda screamed. We looked at her in time to see her faint, Ian reaching in and catching her limp body._

_I had seen Jodi earlier, but I didn't know she was puking up blood. Melanie and I were horror-struck, seeing, strong, stubborn Jodi like this. I swore she wouldn't make it. Her eyes were closed, she looked peaceful. That's when the tears started coming._

_Kyle argued with the nurse until she called the nurse. Some other things happened, but I don't really remember much until the ambulance came. They took Jodi and got her to the ambulance. By then, Wanda woke up and was crying with Melanie telling her Jodi would be fine. I could tell Melanie lied for both of them, to help them get through this._

_We all hopped in a car a little later and drove after the ambulance and Kyle, who had left a little before us. We ran into the hospital, and found out that we couldn't see her. So we sat there. And waited for her to wake up._

_If she would wake up._

I walked out of Jodi's room with Melanie. We were all relieved that she was ok. She basically gave Wanda a heart attack. Really, she gave all of us heart attacks. Especially Kyle. _Would he do that for ME?_ I wonder. _Of course he would, we're friends._ But I'm not really sure he would do that for me. I hope he would.

Kyle grabs Ian, shakes Wanda of his arm, and pulls him through the front door. Wanda fell to the floor. Melanie ran to her, helped her up, and ran after Kyle and Ian. I walk over to Wanda, staring at the door, and put a hand on her shoulder. I ignored the lone tear under her eye.

Ian stormed back in and hugged Wanda. They stood there, whispering to each other when Melanie came back in with Kyle, both looking _very _angry at each other. Ian grabbed Wanda's hand as Mel came over to them.

"Is it fine if I take her home?" Mel looks between Wanda's pleading eyes and Ian's…face. Melanie sighs.

"Fine. Just don't lose her, or you're dead, you hear me?" He shakes his head. Wanda squeals and hugs Melanie, shaking her up and down as Wanda jumps around.

"Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!" Wanda screams in Melanie's ear. Then, she runs to Ian, pulling him out the door, both of them had blood red faces.

**Wanda POV**

"_Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!" I scream in Mel's ear._

"_Someone's excited. Make good choices!" Melanie says, and Ian hears her. We both go blood red so I pull him out the door, Mel's laughter echoing out the door with us._

We get to his car, both our faces still red, and he turns the radio on. An old song by Paramore, Misguided Ghosts, comes on as I stare out the radio. It brings back a memory of when I first heard it.

_Burns opens my door and I pull my little body into the black car and slide into the other seat, him following me in the car. We were 8, still young and innocent. A song we'd never heard before comes on the radio. Burns grabs my hand and squeezes. I look over at him._

_He smiles, making me smile. "Don't worry. We'll never leave each other. We're siblings; I'll always be there for you." And we go towards the next place we'll live._

I push away the memory. This is a happy moment. I will NOT cry about my past. I can when I'm in my room. _You never know how much time you'll have._ I look over at Ian; he's watching me, too.

We smile, and his face gets red. We look back at the road.

"Are you hungry?" He asks.

"Sure," I say and we smile at each other again. We keep driving until we pull into a full parking lot.

"Ready?" he asks me. I smile, it's becoming permanent on my face near him, which make him smile.

"Of course," _I'd go anywhere with you_, I add in my mind.

He helps me out of the car and we walk across the parking lot.

**AN: I thought that this song really fit with Burns and Wanda's situation at the time, that's why I put it in there. =) Also, please tell me where you think they should go to eat. And what they should do after they eat. ;)**


	12. Chapter 12

**So no one gave me any ideas on where they should go or what they should do. Thanks for what you did say, though. =) I'm singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen while I write this so if it's terrible…blame Queen. And their strange song. ;)**

**Ian POV**

_Kyle pulls me away from Wanda and out of the hospital. When we get out of there, he looks at me. _Why would he be blushing?_ I wonder. Then, I get a HUGE shocker._

"_I kissed Jodi!" The way he said it was like he won the lottery. I started laughing a little._

"_Are you sure?" I laugh some more. "You don't seem like a great influence for her. Maybe that's why…" I trail off as he throws me a look. If looks could kill, I would be a pile of ashes._

"_It was just on the forehead, but it was awesome, Ian. She's amazing," I just stare at him. Then, a smile spreads across my face, then to his. We stand there for a few seconds like total weirdoes, smiling in a dark parking lot beside a hospital. Then, we hear stomps near us._ Uh oh.

"_How DARE you throw my sister on the floor!" Melanie screams as she points her finger in Kyle's face. "You BETTER be glad Jodi woke up because if she hadn't, you'd be DEAD now! DO YOU HEAR ME KYLE?!" That's when I pull Melanie back._

"_Melanie, calm down. Is Wanda ok?" Kyle laughs once._

"_That's all you're worried about. She's all you think about now. It's getting a little weird, Ian," Melanie perks up at that._

"_Really?" she asks, suddenly eager to hear more._

"_No. Not ALL the time. I do think of other things, Kyle,"_

"_Yeah, rarely," Melanie out-right laughs at that._

"_That's funny. Almost as funny as Jodi always thinking of Kyle. Priceless," Now Kyle's dead serious._

"_Shut up, Melanie," I swear I thought someone would die, how they stared down each other._

"_Ian, let me and Kyle settle this alone," Melanie said through clenched teeth._

"_No, no one else needs to be in the hospital-"That's when Kyle shoves me towards the door._

"_GO," he says. This just pissed me off. But I listened and stomped into the hospital. That's when I saw Wanda standing there with Sunny. I felt bad for how Kyle acted so I went over to her and pulled her into a hug._

"_Sorry Kyle was being mean. He has no right to be mean to anyone. ESPECIALLY you, Wanda," I say in her ear. I feel her smile._

"_It's fine. I was worried something happened to Jodi," Of course, never worried for herself. Always thinking of others. Kyle and Melanie walked in, but I was concentrated on Wanda so I really didn't care what they said to each other at this point. Of course, Melanie had to walk towards us._

"_No she's fine," I take a deep breath. "Hey, Wanda?"_

"_Yes?" she asks, ever so sweetly. It makes my heart melt. I have to ask her before Melanie can hear me._

"_Do you want me to take you home?" I had a different question for her, but I can ask her later. She giggles._

"_Sure! Let me ask Mel," and just then, Melanie, still looking pissed, walks towards us. I let her out of the hug we were still in and held her hand._

"_Is it fine if I take her home?" I ask her. She looks between our faces and sighs._

"_Fine," she says, still clearly angry at me, "Just don't lose her, or you're dead, you hear me?" I shake my head. Wanda squeals and hugs her, shaking her as she jumps around the room._

"_Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!" she screams in Melanie's ear. _

"_Someone's excited. Make good choices!" Melanie says, loud enough for me to hear. There's only one thing that could mean. Wanda blushes and I can only imagine what MY face looks like._

_Wanda lets her go, grabs my hand, and pulls me out the door. We can still hear Melanie as she laughs at our faces. We run to my car and I help her in, our faces still red. I decided to turn on the radio. Honestly, I was scared to say something stupid and her, I don't know, never want to talk to me ever again. Then, everyone would laugh. Eventually, the entire PLANET could blow up! Just because of my stupidity._

_She looks out the window, like she's in a different world. I've never heard this song so I have no clue what she's going through with this song. When it ends, I just stare at her, watching as she pulls herself together again. She looks over at me. I blush and look away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her smile._

_Afraid I'm doing something wrong I decide to talk to her._

"_Are you hungry?" It's the first thing that pops into my mind, but she smiles anyways._

"_Sure," and I smile with her. I remember the popular diner-thing across the street from my house, so I take her there. The parking lot, as usual, is full. I actually find a parking spot right at the door. I'm stunned that we get right at the door. I look over at her._

"_Ready?" I ask. She smiles._

"_Of course," and I smile, I think this will permanently be stuck on my face when I'm near her, and go to her side of the car. I help her out and we walk across the parking lot of _Stars' Diner and Bowling Alley.

**Wanda POV**

Oh my God. We walk up to Jeb's little diner area. MY Jeb's diner. This is just very ironic. And a bad date night. Wait. IS this a date. Now my curiosity has been peaked. _Of course it's not a date. Why would he take me on a date? He could take ANYONE on a date, so why would he take me on one?_ As I ponder this, we walk in. And there stands Jeb, manning the door. Of course.

"Wanda! There you are! Where's Mel? We need all the help we can get tonight! Why are you here with this guy? And who is he?" Before I can get anymore embarrassed, I try to say something.

"Jeb, this is Ian. Ian, Jeb. Melanie's still at the hospital, Jodi woke up, but I was tired and hungry, so Ian has been very nice and taken me here. We need a table for two, preferably the back booth so you can stay here and away from us. Thank you, Jeb," I say as I hug him and pull Ian by the hand towards the back booth, as far from Jeb as possible.

Macy walks up to us, because this is one of her tables, and gets our drinks. She bends down and whispers, "Nice man. Where can I get one?" and winks at me. Were as I'm left sitting there, red as a tomato.

Ian sits across from me, a smile on his face. Then, he starts to chuckle.

"What?" I ask timidly. Jeb and Macy have embarrassed me enough for one night. I hope I don't seem mean from saying that to Jeb.

"I just can't believe you had the guts to say that to Jeb. I knew you were brave, but I didn't think you could stand up to Jeb like that. It was awesome," he chuckles again. I somehow get redder and manage a smile. The next thing I know, Macy put "We Are the Champions" by Queen on.

Ian and I look at each other, and burst out laughing. I think of the movie "You Again", but I don't know about him. We laugh until Macy brings our drinks.

"Like the music? We have a lovely selection of hard rock and songs that make you cry from their beauty, such as this," and then we laugh even harder, with Macy walking away, laughing just as hard.

Once we calm down, we talk about our favorite bands. I said mine was probably Paramore, but he disagreed with AC/DC. We were in a very heated battle about which was better when our food came.

We laughed, we cried from laughter, and we eventually staggered out and got in his car, singing "We Are the Champions". Before I knew it, we were at my house. He helped me out again and walked me to the door.

"I had a LOT of fun tonight, Wanda. I hope you did, too," We smiled.

"Considering how much I laughed, I think I did," and, again, we smiled. The next thing I knew, he face was inches from mine.

"I'm glad," he said. That's when his lips met mine. They were warm and soft. I felt his hands wrap around my waist. Where his hands touched me was fire. After he pulled away, I'm sure I was a tomato.

We smiled, again.

"Goodnight, Wanda,"

"Goodnight," and he walked towards his car. He turned back to look at me three times before he got to his car. When he started to go, he waved at me.

And I waved back, finally content with my life.


	13. Chapter 13

**WOW! 1,096 people have read my story! I'm SO happy! Thank you guys for reading my story so much! I know it took me all night to write yesterday's chapter, but I wasn't sure where I would want to take it. And you can obviously see where I decided to go with it. =D I couldn't wait any longer, though! Again, another fluff chapter, but I have to build up their relationship SOMEHOW! Sorry it took forever on this chapter, too. But at least you got it earlier than yesterdays! No flashbacks for Ian today. Enjoy!**

**Wanda POV**

_He kept pacing back and forth across the room, over and over again. We were in my room, talking about how to get away. The only problem was our minds were blank._

"_We could… prank them so much, they get fed up with us and send us off,"_

"_That wouldn't work," I say, frowning at the floor. "I don't think I can do that. Plus, what would we do, Burns?" He started to pace again, obviously thinking for an answer to my question and what prank we could do. Finally, he sat down beside me on the bed and sighed._

"_I don't know. There's always telling them the truth. But their so strong willed they'd try even harder. And I don't think we can take much more," he looks into my eyes. I nod._

"_I think that's the best thing to do, though." He nods now. We stand up, hand in hand, and go to talk to our current foster parents._

After Ian turns off my street, I walk back into the house in a daze. About 15 minutes later, I heard the door shut and Mel came running in, pulling Jared with her. They stop dead in their tracks when they see me sitting at the kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of me.

"Hey, Wanda, what are you doing with your cereal?" she asked, holding back laughter. I looked down and mushy, wet cereal was everywhere. I sighed. _Great. Something to get me out of my daze. And wonderful Ian daydream._

"I didn't even know I made cereal. Let alone what I'm doing with it," They laughed and I turned red, thinking about Ian again. Melanie shooed away Jared while I got paper towels to clean up my mess.

"What happened with Ian?" Melanie asked, eyeing me as I cleaned up my cereal. I burst into the biggest grin I've ever made in my life, which made Mel grin and pull me into a hug. She basically tackled me so we fell in a heap on the floor.

She started laughing, which made me start laughing. Eventually, Jamie came in with Jeb from the diner and saw we were still laughing. Jeb rolled his eyes and walked off. Jamie helped us into chairs (we were still on the floor) and cleaned up my cereal mess. I started to help, but he lightly smacked my hands away, saying I need to laugh a lot more in life.

When Jamie left and we had calmed down, Melanie pulled me into the backyard. We walked over to the bench that Jeb had made when Jamie was born and sat down.

"So what happened with Ian tonight?" My huge grin made a reappearance. "Ok, something happened. SPILL!" and I told her about the 'date night' thing at the diner, the drive home, and the perfect doorstep kiss. By the end we were both squealing with delight.

"I'M SO HAPPY!" I screamed.

"I AM, TOO, AND I WASN'T EVEN THE ONE WHO GOT KISSED!" we both laughed at that. Once we calmed down again, we chatted about girly things that aren't really important, until she said something that really sparked my curiosity.

"Ian likes you, I can tell. It was said outside the hospital earlier and he never denied it. You would make a great couple, Wanda,"

"Who said he liked me?" I asked a little too demanding, a little too excitedly. Melanie's eyes got huge.

"I think you're in LOVE, Wanda! AHH!" she screamed from happiness again. "My little sister's growing up!" and then she started to sob and hugged me. I just let her and I patted her back. "I'm sorry; I just can't see you getting older. You're my baby sister; you can't grow up on me. Jamie already is enough as it is!"

"Its fine, Melanie. We're going to be kids for a few more years. Don't worry. Stop crying. Hey, why was Jared here?" I asked with mock innocence. She gave me the death stare and I laughed. She turned red and kept saying "it's not funny."

We went like this for a long time until I about couldn't keep my head up. She yawned and helped me up the stairs to my room. I just laid there on my bed, wondering what Ian was thinking about.

**Ian POV**

I got out of my car and walked into my house. Kyle was sitting there in his boxers, watching the news. _How can he watch that?_ He looks up at me as I walk by.

"How was your evening with Wanda?" he asked. When I looked at him, he was wiggling his eyebrows. I felt my face heat up.

"I just took her to Jeb's little diner-thing across the street and took her home. That's all," he stared me down.

"You kissed her, didn't you," he stated. He always has to assume I did something. But the weird thing is, he's usually right.

"Yeah," I said. Again, my face was red. "I kind of felt bad, because I know she's too sweet to say she didn't like it. I feel like I took advantage of her,"

"Taking advantage of a girl isn't when you kiss them without permission. That's when you-"

"Thanks for the lesson in 'What NOT to do to your dream girl', but I've already heard this before,"

"Stop being a fat-faced baby, Ian. God, mature up," I stare at him, but he just laughs. Before he can say anything else, I walk to the bathroom and shower (I don't want to be the freaky guy who smells bad), grab a soda, and head to my room. I shut the door and turn to my computer.

I bring my facebook up and scroll through my friends list. I find the name I'm looking for and send my message.

**Wanda POV**

I hear my computer ding; it means I have a facebook message. I look to see who wants to chat, and I see it's Ian.

**Ian: Hey, Wanda.**

Immediately, I reply to his message.

**Wanda: Hey. What are you up to, randomly chatting with me on facebook at 2:00 AM?**

**Ian POV**

I stare at my computer, shocked she messaged me back so quickly.

**Ian: I'm sorry. I didn't know what time it is.**

**Wanda: Oh, no. It's fine. I was just curious, that's all.**

We sat there, silence on both sides.

**Wanda: Did you like Jeb's diner? I'm sorry about him. He's just….. well Jeb.**

I laugh. There really aren't any words to describe him.

**Ian: Very. His name should be in the dictionary. Definition : A living thing that has no words to describe them. Usually a very old, crazy dude that runs an amazing diner. And I did like the food. =)**

We sit there a second. I silently wonder if I said something that could have offended her. But then, she messages back.

**Wanda: Sorry to keep you waiting. I was laughing pretty hard and Mel came in and laughed with me….What would my name be if it was in the dictionary?**

I could imagine how she would ask me face-to-face. She would put her head down and hide behind her hair. Her face would heat up a little, like she was embarrassed to have asked, even the least embarrassing thing.

**Ian: Well, this one's a little difficult…..Definition: An angelic creature who surely can't be human, she's too humane for the word. Someone who's so selfless, she'd probably die for anyone if it meant they could live. Someone who makes you do a double take every time you see her. Someone who takes you to a great diner and makes you cry from laughing so hard. Someone you want to kiss in the rain on the sidewalk. Someone you would take any amount of pain for, just to see her smile. Someone you would die for over and over again. Someone you would protect like they were/are most precious thing ever to walk the Earth because you know that it's true. I think THAT'S what your name is because it describes YOU. And how perfect you are, Wanda.**

And we sit there, silently thinking over my words.

**Wanda: Thank you. Definition for Ian: Someone who always makes you smile, even when you're not having the best day. Someone who will always be there for you. Someone who's kind and caring. Someone who tries so hard to make a crying person happy again. Someone who makes sure you've got what you need and want before getting his own. This describes not even half of what described you, but some people are too amazing and great for words.**

We talked about unimportant stuff until we couldn't stay awake any longer. I fell asleep with my face on the keyboard, a half-written reply on the screen. I sighed and went to try to get the keyboard prints off my left cheek.

But it was worth it because I got to talk to Wanda, and I really think she likes me.


	14. Chapter 14

**Yeay! So many people have read my story! Thanks to everyone for reading this! If you want to, tell me your opinion on this story! I'm not telling you to, just saying if you want to. Alright, enjoy!**

**Wanda POV**

_Alecs looks down at me and smiles his ever-present smile at me. I can see the dimples in his cheeks. He leans down closer and closer until he's literally centimeters away from my lips. I feel my lips part, as if on instinct._

"_Wanda, I think I love you," that's when his lips meet mine. My mouth moves with his. The next thing I knew, his tongue was in my mouth. When he released me, we both smiled. I'm glad that was my first kiss._

I woke up with a start, still at my computer. That was strange, why would I think about that now? I shake my head and look over at my clock. 5:34 AM. Might as well get ready. I might not wake up in time if I go back to sleep. I have a keyboard imprint on my right cheek. I sigh, going to Melanie's room to get her to help me get it to go away.

I'm shocked back out the door when I walk in. Jared's there. IN MY SISTER'S ROOM! IN THE BED WITH HER! Before I scream, I quietly close the door behind me and walk back to my room. She can help me later. I get a tank top on and some bootie shorts and walk to the kitchen.

When I get there, Melanie's in there, humming (which I've NEVER heard before) so I assume Jared's gone. I don't say anything about it; I just get her to help me get the key board mark off my face.

When we get ready, we leave, taking Jamie to school. Once Jamie's gone, we sit in silence for about a minute. Then, she caves in and tells me everything. He left when she saw me in the kitchen and went around the corner. She texted him when I "went to bed" and…you know what happened.

I was screaming with her. She was so happy. Also, it's official, they're a couple! Yeay! Then, the question I wondered about all night came up.

"So…Are you and Ian official yet?" By my silence, she assumes correctly, I don't know. "Hey, it's fine, ok? I'm sure it'll happen soon,"

"Sure," I say, immediately sad he never asked me to be his girlfriend. We pull into the parking lot, but Ian and Kyle aren't here yet. _Weird._ They're usually here first; Ian likes to walk with me to my locker.

I get to my locker, wondering where Ian is, when I feel someone tap my shoulder. I turn around to see my brother. I scream and throw my books across the hallway, running into his open arms and he picks me up and spins me around like he used to.

"BURNS!" I scream, I hear him chuckle into my hair.

"Wanda!" he says, he doesn't scream it, but he says it excitedly, too. I hear someone cough loudly to get our attention. He puts me down and we look over to see Alecs standing there.

"Alecs!" I say, not screaming because I wasn't always with him, but I run into his embrace, too.

"I missed you, Wanda. I surprised that they actually split you guys up. Poor Burns, here, was so down in the dumps, our foster parents decided to just move us here. They said they were sick of the city anyways. But I really think they just wanted to see Burns happy," I smiled at that and let go of Alecs.

I got over to Burns. By now, we were the only people in the hallway. Besides the councilor, he wrote us a note and took Alecs back to the office so he could get to Jamie's school. He'll be here next year.

Burns and I have every class together so we walked to homeroom together, gave the teacher our notes, and sat down together. I helped him when he got confused, like he did when I needed help with my school work.

About half way through class, Ian walked in. He smiled at me and I blushed as I smiled back. I saw him stare down Burns, though. When class ended, I went to pick up my stuff, but Ian beat me to it. I looked up, smiling, and saw the faint red outline of a computer keyboard on his left cheek and I stood up. I took my stuff from his hands and pointed towards Burns.

"Ian, this is my brother, Burns," I see Burns blush.

"Well, not biologically, but we became friends in one of the orphanages. Inseparable like brother and sister," He smiles down at me and I smile up at him. Ian shakes his hand.

"I'm Ian, Wanda's friend," He peaked at me and I blushed again and smiled. We start towards the door and go to our lockers, Ian tagging along as usual. The rest of the day went by normal besides this morning.

Before I knew it, it was lunch and I was between Ian and Burns. Burns was telling us about Chicago (I've never been) when we got to my locker, Mel leaning against it, Jared's hands around her waist. They backed up so I could open my locker.

Then, Sunny came running up, and pulled me into the bathroom, away from everyone else.

"Sunny, what was that for?" I asked. She looked up at me, tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong?"

"Wanda? Sunny?" I heard Melanie come into the bathroom. "Sunny, what happened? NOW whose ass is getting kicked?" Sunny and I grinned and Mel tried to suppress her grin, trying to be dead serious.

"Kyle," Sunny whispered, looking down.

"What did he do?" I asked gently. She just shook her head. It echoes in here. Do you think we could sit at a table by ourselves today? Oh, wait. Sorry, Wanda. Your brother's here, you can sit with him if you want to,"

"Burns can sit with the guys, he'll be fine. You need me more right now than Burns does. We'll sit at Sam and Jodi's old table. Do you want Sam to sit with us?"

"No," she answered quickly, forcefully. Melanie looked at me, wide eyed. I ignored her.

"Ok, we'll sit there today. Just us, ok?"Sunny shook her head and sniffed.

"Ok," with that, we walked out of the bathroom. They all stood there, looks of worry on their faces. Burns came and asked if she was ok.

"She's fine, but Mel and I are going to sit with her at Jodi and Sam's old table. It's still empty and I wanted to give her some time to calm down a bit more," I said this to everyone. They all nodded.

I took Sunny's hand, Mel took her other, and we walked to the cafeteria.

**Ian POV**

I watch Wanda as they walk to the cafeteria. I wondered why she didn't act any different than she normally does. Does she not like me that way? That's when I started to worry I had been too forward. I mean, I've barely been here a month-wow. I've known her a month and I want to ask her out. Maybe that's why she's not acting differently; she just wants to be friends.

"Ian, you coming?" Jared asked. I nodded and followed them, still thinking about what I've possibly done to Wanda and our friendship. When we get in there, this guy is over there, talking to Wanda. I've never seen this guy before, but then again, he might be new.

But why is he talking to Wanda? Their laughing at something. Her face is red and she's laughing so hard, she's leaning on Melanie for support. Maybe he's there trying to cheer up Sunny. I hope he's not there for Wanda. That's my job. And, I guess, Burns' job, too.

**Sunny POV**

_We sit down at the table with our lunch when Mel starts to question Sunny._

"_So what did Kyle do to you?" I look down at my tray. _He stole my heart and broke it._ I thought._

"_Well, I kind of have this crush on him, but as I was walking out of Geography, I heard him talking to Brandt. They were talking about Jodi. Brandt asked him why he took Ian out of the hospital when he left Jodi's room," a sound that might be a sob, I'm not sure, though, broke out of my chest. It sounded like an animal had died, but I knew it was my heart._

"_He said he wanted to tell Ian that…he…he kissed her," I can't talk anymore, so I lean on Wanda and she pats my head and sooths me until I calm down enough to eat. We sit in silence for a few minutes. I hear footsteps behind us, but I choose to ignore them. Then, they stop in front of our table. I peek up and see a guy I've never seen before._

"_Hi. My name's Ashton. Is this seat taken?" Wanda's eyes get wide._

Oh no.

**Wanda POV**

_I feel my face heat up. He looks like…the best thing I can think of at the moment is a cowboyish style. No, he's not got a cowboy hat on, but he's got a denim, button-down t-shirt, the top three buttons undone, some jeans with a few holes in them, and boots._

"_If you sit there it will be," Melanie says. He chuckles and sits down, ironically, beside me. I feel my face heat up. He keeps staring at me, I can feel his eyes on me, but I don't look over at him. Melanie starts asking him questions. It turns out, he's new (why the sudden burst of new kids at this school?) from Texas, so not that far from here. You know, just a few states. Then, Mel brings up who's taken already and who they're with._

"_Are you taken?" he whispers to me. I stare at him and then I turn red again._

"_No, I'm not," I look up and see he's smiling at me. And I smile back._

"_Who wants pickles?" Sunny asks. It was funny, considering the random time to bring this up, and we start laughing. Everyone except Sunny, who keeps repeating "pickles" and eventually, I fall on Mel, hoping we don't fall out of our seats from laughing so hard. As I'm laughing, Ashton grabs my hand. I peek up, still laughing, to see Ian coming over to us._

Uh oh.

**Ian POV**

_They probably think he's the best comedian ever. God, what did he say that's making them all crack up? Jared's been trying to destract me, but then Shitface went over there and started to chat it up with Melanie. We're both holding back anger. And jelousy. Don't forget jelousy._

_I watch him as he gets closer and closer to Wanda. It's killing me. And then he reaches his hand out. That's when I start over there. And grabs her hand. And then I'm standing over him._

**Melanie POV**

Ian stands in front of Ashton, a scowl so deadly looking that you'll never forget it.

"Keep your hands off of her," he growls. Ashton drops Wanda's hand and she scoots closer to me, her eyes wide with fear. It's not for her, though, but for Ian and Ashton.

Ashton stands up and gets in Ian's face (Ashton's a little shorter than Ian) and looks him straight in the eyes.

"Or what?" he asks, a challenge. The guys at our usual table had come after Ian, Jared right behind me and Wanda. Ian reaches down and grabs Ashton by the collar of his shirt, yanks him off the ground, and pushes him against the wall.

"Or you'll have to go through me," he growled again. Wanda whimpered. Of course she's scared, she's been beat all her life. She probably went through something like this before. Burns comes over and holds her in his arms as she cries. When he looked up at me, I see tears in his eyes, too. He's being strong for her.

Ian drops Ashton to the ground and walks over to Wanda. He puts a hand on her shoulder and she flinches away. He drops his hand. He looks at me and I see the pain in his eyes, knowing that it was him scaring her.

Burns just picks her up and walks out of the cafeteria, while Ian sits down and puts his head in his hands and just sits there.

**Wanda POV**

_I watch as Hayden slaps Burns across the face. I start crying. That's when he walks over to me and pushes me against the wall. I start crying even harder, knowing what's coming next._

"_Shut up, you slut," he growls at me, but I just keep crying. He slaps me, too, and yanks down my shorts._

I just cry on Burns' shoulder the whole time he carried me. When he sat me down, I looked around and we were in our next class. He had gotten my books and sat them on my desk. I sat there and cried and cried. And he sat there and waited for me to calm down.

When I calmed down, he looked at me.

"Who was it that made you cry today?" I could tell he was straining to keep his anger under control. I opened my mouth to answer when the door swung open and Ian, Melanie, Jared, and Sunny came running in.

"Are you ok, Wanda?" Melanie said as she ran to me and wrapped her arms around me. It made me tear up again, knowing someone cared about me enough to worry this much over me. I giggled a little. She pulled back to look at me, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I'm fine. It was all a little over welming, that's all," I looked over at Burns.

"Who did you think of, Wanda," Burns looked at me. His eyes were filled with sadness and anger. I looked down.

"You remember Jerry?" I looked up in time to see Burns punch the desk. I looked and it had a crack in it. I looked back at him, my eyes wide.

"Woah, calm down! Who was that guy?" Jared asked. I looked down again, Burns face was red from his anger, whereas mine was red from embarrassment.

"He was one of our foster parents. I'll tell you more later, but I don't think I can right now," I looked over to Melanie, staring daggers at Jared, but when she looked at me, her eyes were full of compassion.

"Of course, Wanda. Don't tell us anything until you're ready. Ok?" I smiled a little.

"Ok," By now, other people were coming in so Jared said by to Melanie and we sat through class, like any other day.


	15. Chapter 15

**I want to apologize for possibly how terrible the past few chapters have been and how late I've been posting them. I've been working on a PowerPoint project for English class and it's been taking up most of my night. The good news with this is that I finished it last night and I've only got tomorrow before the weekend! This means more time to write better chapters and try to redeem myself. I really hope you enjoy this! Harrypotterfreak38 (I'm looking at you, Katie ;)) thank you for being the first friend of mine in reality to read this, so this one's for you, girl! LOVE YOU!**

**Wanda POV**

I stare at Sunny; she can tell I'm angry at her. She should be embarrassed that she did this to herself. I'm so disappointed in her. I just can't believe she would do this to herself. Now she's going to be in trouble with Kyle.

_Ian, Burns, Jared, Melanie, and I walked down the hall, searching for Sunny. We haven't seen her at all for the rest of the day. As we walk, we see Kyle at his locker. Ian walks up to him._

"_Hey have you seen Sunny? Wanda's getting worried. We haven't seen her since lunch," Kyle shakes his head._

"_No, where do you think she went?" I could tell he's getting worried. As they talked, I heard footsteps behind us. I turned around and saw Sunny, her head peaking behind the wall. I walk over to her as the others argue._

"_Where'd you go earlier? I was about to have a heart attack. I haven't seen you since lunch," She gets a little paler. "What's wrong, Sunny?" She shakes her head, walking backwards, tears back in her eyes._

_The next thing I know, she's running back the way she came. Without thinking, I scream at her. "SUNNY, NO! COME BACK!" and I start to run as fast as my little legs can go. I only get a few steps before I slip._

_When I look down, there's a trail of blood, and I'm covered in it._

**Sunny POV**

_I just kept running. My wrists kept bleeding but I really didn't care. I knew they would catch up to me, but, hopefully, by the time they get to me it'll be too late. I turn into a closet, hoping death is coming quickly. I get behind a box the best I can, but I know they'll see me. At this point, I know they'll get here soon; their voices are coming up the hallway. I close my eyes, hoping they won't open again, just to deal with the heart break I've felt since before lunch._

_I hear the door open, the light is shining on my face and it's read behind my eyelids. I keep my eyes closed. I hear a gasp, Wanda whispers for everyone to shush. I hear her walk over to me. Her arms wrap around my waist and she drags me into the hallway._

_They lay me down, but I don't feel like I'm there anymore. All I can think about is that I love Kyle, but Kyle loves Jodi._

_I love Kyle, but he loves Jodi._

_He loves her, but I love him._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_I wake up with something sticking into my arm. _An IV. _I know immediately that they saved my life. My worthless, pain-filled life that doesn't matter to Kyle. I decide to keep my eyes closed, see if anyone says anything, if anyone's here. _What if they just saved me and ditched me?_ I started panic, but then the door opened, which made me relax a little bit._

"_Is she awake yet?" I heard Kyle say. My heart skipped a beat when I heard his voice._

"_No, not yet. I've been watching her for a few minutes, but she hasn't even moved. I'm starting to get worried, even more than I already am," I hear Wanda. I should pretend to wake up now, but I really want to hear them talk some more. I waited anxiously through the silence._

"_What happened to her that made her cry earlier?" Silence. I know Wanda will tell her, she doesn't have it in her to lie. But neither do I._

"_Well, it had something to do with you talking to Brandt before lunch about, well Jodi," It's silent again. I hear him taking deep breaths. He knows. I feel embarrassed that he knows, but I really hope when I pretend to wake up he won't bring it up._

_The door opens again and I hear multiple people come in. I decide that I should wake up with them all here. I open my eyes, something I never thought I would do again._


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm sorry the last chapter was so short, but I wanted to do this as one chapter. I felt like that would be a great stopping point, considering that I was going to write this chapter anyways. Hope you enjoy. Also, if I know you in real life (*cough* school buds*cough*) this chapter is to you. Thanks for reading!**

**Wanda POV**

_We were all in Sunny's hospital room, waiting for her to wake up. Ian walked over to me, his arm on my shoulders. I smiled; the fire was back, scorching my skin. It was a good burn, though. Kyle was staring daggers at Sunny's unconscious body._

_I know it was wrong of her to do that, but Kyle shouldn't be like this. Should he? Should I?_

**Kyle POV**

_I glare at Sunny's body. I'm starting to wonder if she'll ever wake up. We've been here for four hours and she hasn't moved except to breath and her heart to beat. I'm getting aggravated. Not necessarily her, but really at the world. That Jodi's still stuck here. That Ian's being all lovey-dovey to Wanda. That Sunny tried to leave me when all I want is a friend to hold me steady, keep me on my feet._

_I look back at Wanda. "How long does she have to stay here, again?" She keeps her eyes on the floor as she answers._

"_She has to stay over-night whether she wakes up today or not. If she does wake up today, she stays for observation. If she doesn't, she goes to ICU to keep her body alive," Her voice gets quieter and quieter until she stops talking. She looks up, tears in her eyes. I knew that she was close to Sunny, but I didn't know the bond went so deep._

_Ian looks up at me, too. I look away at the door, to see if the doctor or a nurse will walk in. But all that's really on my mind is Sunny. _Sunny._ Her short hair, always in her eyes, covered in a mix of three different colors. _Sunny. _Her big beautiful eyes that make my heart skip beats. _Oh my God._ I look over at her, and those eyes are open, staring at me._

_And all I can think is my Sunny will be fine._

**Sunny POV**

_I stare at Kyle as he refuses to look at me. I start to worry a bit. Then, he turns and looks at me. And we stare at each other. He looks surprised that I woke up._

"_SUNNY!" Wanda screams. I look over at her to see her running across the room to me._

"_Oomph." I say as she grabs me and squeezes the air out of me. "Hey, now. Calm down, Wanda. I DO have to breathe," She giggles, but hugs me tighter._

"_Don't do that to me again, ok?" she whispers in my ear. I chuckle._

"_Never again. I promise," she pulls back to look at me. I put up my right hand, like I'm swearing not to. She laughs and hugs me again. I laugh with her, closing my eyes, enjoying this moment with my friend._

**Ian POV**

_I watch Wanda squeeze Sunny. I can tell she's happy to see Wanda. To look this relieved to see Wanda, I wonder why she would try to commit suicide? We all care about her, I just don't get why she would do that. I look at Kyle again. He's staring at Sunny. I try to remind myself it's SUNNY he's staring at, but Wanda's there, too, and it's making me angry at Kyle for watching. I know that I shouldn't be, I mean, I KNOW he's watching Sunny, but it's just driving me insane._

_Wanda finally lets Sunny breathe and walks back to me. Thankfully, Kyle keeps his eyes on Sunny as she watches Wanda and I. I wrap my arms around her waist as she turns around to watch Sunny. Sunny looks between everyone and then she moves to looking around the room._

_Her eyes lock with Kyle's. She looks away, blushing fiercely. I look down at Wanda, who's watching Sunny, and she has a sad look on her face. I wonder why? The atmosphere is awkward until the nurse comes in and checks out Sunny._

"_She can leave today. Enough medicine has gone into her bloodstream. She'll be fine now," We thank her and walk out in the parking lot, Sunny walking beside Wanda, talking it up like girls do. Wanda helps Sunny get in my car and hops in the passenger seat. We go to Sunny's house so she can ask her parents if she can spend the night at Wanda's._

_I feel like I'm waiting forever. But, I guess it takes forever to get stuff. Whatever. I don't want to know. I do wonder what's taking so long, though._

**Wanda POV**

_I help Sunny up the stairs to her room. She walks over to her desk to check her email, facebook, ect. She stops when she looks at her facebook. She turns to me, her eyes wide._

"_My cousin's coming. Get Ian in here. NOW!" she shouts. _I flinch and pull out my phone to get Ian in here. I go wait in the hallway until he gets in the hallway. It took him literally seconds to get there.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Just get in here," I take him to Sunny's room, where she's hyperventilating in the corner. She looks up when we walk in, but doesn't calm down. If anything, she gets worse. "Her cousin's coming," I look at him. He's got a dumb look on his face. I shake my head and sigh. "Go get a brown paper bag from the kitchen," he runs off to get one. I sit down beside Sunny and rub her back.

He comes back with the bag and I make Sunny breathe in it. Once she calms down, I can tell Ian's curious, but he doesn't push it. We walk back to the car and drive to my house, while I wonder why Annia would come now.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey there! Thank you for the reviews! Love you guys with all my heart (yes, even my haters, though you don't have as big a piece of my heart as my loyal readers do!) Welcome to the next chapter! Not much to say. Check out my poll on my profile. Blah blah blah. Ok you can read the chapter now. =)**

**Sunny POV**

When we got to Wanda's house, she invited Ian in. I looked at her and whispered in her ear.

"Don't tell him about my cousin," I pull back and she nods. We walk into the kitchen and Wanda gets three glasses, milk, peanut butter, and Oreos. Yum-o!

"Why did you get out peanut butter?" Ian asked, clearly dumb-founded. Wanda and I look at each other and burst into laughter. Well, I laugh, she giggles uncontrollably."What?" Ian asks, getting agitated that his stupidity is funny.

"We're going to dip Oreos in it. And milk when we need to wash down the peanut butter. Duh," Wanda calms down and dips an Oreo in peanut butter, handing it to Ian. He takes it and stares for a minute. He eventually shrugs and eats it. His face goes expressionless.

He reaches over savagely and grabs the peanut butter and Oreos and digs in. Wanda starts another giggle fit and I pour us all some milk. We sit there for what seems like forever, eating Oreos in milk and peanut butter and laughing until we cry.

Wanda runs off and comes back with her laptop. I smile as she asks what we want to listen to. They look at me.

"I think Sunny should choose first," Ian says. I stare at the counter as I try to think of an amazing song that will always remind us of today. The first song that comes to mind is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Wanda smiles as it starts to play. We sit there, singing along and laughing as Wanda improvises when she doesn't know the lyrics and gets blood red.

We stayed that way forever. We started to get hungry and we saw it was 12:15. That just might explain why we were hungry. Everyone was asleep except us so Wanda made us some chocolate chip pancakes. I will have to say, they were the best midnight pancakes I've ever had. Then again, they were the ONLY midnight pancakes I've ever had, but never the less, they were delicious.

As we ate the pancakes, we listened to 21 guns by Green Day. So we sang along, happy to be here. That's when Melanie, a huge hoodie on, came down and screamed at us to go to bed. When she walked away, we started to laugh again. Ian pulled us out of the house and we got in his truck. Wanda turned her music as loud as it would go and we rolled down all the windows.

We were driving down the road when Wanda undid her seatbelt and crawled in the backseat with me. I stared at her as she opened the sun roof and stood up through it.

"IN THIS MOMENT, I AM INFINITE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. I laughed, knowing she was quoting "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," which is a fabulous book, by the way. We laughed as she climbed back down and sat in the passenger seat again, her face red from the wind, and most likely from embarrassment, too.

We listened to Paramore, Nickelback, Secondhand Serenade, All American Rejects, and a few other bands. When "We Are the Champions" by Queen came on, Ian and Wanda started laughing and Wanda's face got red again. I started begging them to tell me what was so funny. Wanda broke and told me about when they went to the diner and Jeb played this song.

By the end of the story, I was just as red as Wanda, but from laughter, not embarrassment. When we got back to Wanda's house, it was 4:08 AM. Wanda made Ian come inside (she said she didn't want him to fall asleep when he was driving, but I think she just wanted him to stay because she likes him. I never said ANYTHING) and he slept on the couch. I dragged a half-dead Wanda to her room and dropped her on the bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

I went over to her computer and found a pen and a few sticky notes. I wrote "DON'T WAKE US UP!" on one and on the other "DON'T WAKE ME UP!" I went back downstairs to a sleeping Ian and stuck the second one on his forehead. I went back upstairs and stuck the first one on the door.

I went back in the room and fell asleep before I got to the bed, collapsing on the floor from pure exhaustion into a dreamless sleep.

And I realized I never thought about Kyle the entire time I was here.

**Wanda POV**

_I stand there, Burns glaring hard at Florence, but she obviously didn't care. Her glasses started to fall down her nose for the hundredth time. This time, she left them there._

"_I told you that next time you did something like this, there would be consequences. Now I suggest-"_

"_I suggest you stop talking," Burns said, his eyes hard, voice full of hatred and anger. "Wanda was raped and I KNOW you don't care one BIT about her health risks. You need to SUE him but you wouldn't DARE do something for her own good. EVER. Maybe you should stop worrying about the spoiled BRATS that get picked before any of us who have been here as long as they can REMEMBER and then get hurt in the process!" He starts to shout by the end of his speech._

_His anger didn't faze Florence, though. She stared daggers at my brother._

"_that you start thinking before you speak and act. You're being sent to Illinois to ANOTHER new foster family. Mr. and Mrs. Dante wanted to try fostering children and since you have been here the longest, you're being sent there. They're a younger couple so we thought you could get along with them better than the older couples. Be good for once. And don't do anything stupid," We turn to walk away. Before we leave, though Burns mumbles,_

"_Hear that, Wanda? Don't let them rape you again. We know no one will do anything except me, and I have no power," I could just picture Florence's face, red from anger. I laugh internally._


	18. Chapter 18

**I was told that you guys couldn't find my poll. Well, you should be able to find it now. Sunny, Wanda, and Ian were "slaphappy," which is what Wanda was before Walter died and she hadn't slept in days. This was what they were feeling. At least it was Friday. BTW, this chapter is going to be more about Ian's past. I want to thank Orange91 for the reviews and everyone else for the reviews and for reading this. The characters will be listening to music again, but in Wanda's backyard this time. Ok, enjoy!**

**Ian POV**

When I woke up, something was stuck to my forehead and I smelled pancakes. I smiled, remembering Wanda made the best pancakes. Then I frowned. Since when does Kyle cook? I sat up and the thing on my forehead fell off. A sticky note. I flipped it over to read it. That's when I smiled again.

**DON'T WAKE ME UP!**

Was written on it. And I remembered Wanda made me sleep on the couch. In her house. And Jeb lived here. I frowned and started to stand up, but fell back down on the couch. _Shit._ My legs were asleep. So I sat there, waiting for Wanda. I didn't know what time it was, I couldn't see a clock.

I waited and waited, but got bored. I started to flip through my memories, new ones like last night, and old ones. Ones like when Kyle was small, but I was smaller.

_I kicked the soccer ball across the yard and ran behind it, chasing it to the goal. I heard Kyle running after me, so I kicked as hard as I could. I went straight into the goal._

"_SCORE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my arms stretched out to my sides as I run around the yard. I turned around and let my arms fall to my sides. I walked over to Kyle, his face red with jealousy and anger. I went passed him to Mom and he put his hand on my shoulder. I froze with fear. He spun me around to face him._

_When I looked at him, I saw his anger was gone, replaced with pride._

"_You did good, Ian. Really good," We smiled for a minute. We started towards Mom and grabbed the water bottles off the table and drank half of them there. She smiled at us and gave us some sliced fruit (of course she gives us peaches. Disgusting) and Kyle eats everything. How he can it that is beyond me. We walk back into the house, me to the kitchen, Kyle to the living room. I find some apples and hand one to Mom._

"_Can you cut this?" She smiles at me and washes off the apple._

"_Of course my little star," I walk over to the bar area and sit on a stool, waiting for my apple slices. I hear Spongebob Squarepants on in the living room. Stupid Kyle, laughing his butt off. Mom hands me my apple slices and I dig in. I hear the door slam and footsteps coming in the kitchen._

"_Ian, you want to play basketball now?" I hear a little, squeaky girl voice. I turn around on the stool to see a small little girl behind me, hands on her hips, face pleading. Her shoulder length black hair was tied in a high pony tail and she had a silver headband on. Her brown eyes were staring at me. It was like she was staring deep into my soul. Freaky. I nodded and she fist-pumped the air and ran to my driveway._

_I ran outside and chased Shailee across the yard._

I smiled at the memory, remembering when we were care-free kids who could play sports as long as we wanted. Then, school started and we couldn't play soccer and basketball as much. But we got used to it.

I heard a thud, a few groans, and heard a gasp. I turned around to see Wanda and Sunny standing at the bottom of the stairs. It looked like a hurricane blew them around for a few hours, they looked so disheveled. I smiled. Wanda smiled, too, while Sunny looked confused as to why I was here. She walked off into the kitchen as Wanda came over to me.

"Hey," she said, still smiling and she still looked half asleep. I guess I did, too, though. I smiled more.

"Hey. Do you know why I smell pancakes?" She grinned at me and nodded as she pulled me to my feet and dragged me into the kitchen. I saw Melanie at the stove, fixing pancakes. Ah-ha! The mystery is solved! Sunny sat at the table, four pancakes on her plate. Wanda and I ran to the table, throwing pancakes on a plate as fast as we could.

We sat down I drowned my pancakes in syrup, while Wanda put ready whip on her's. We inhaled our pancakes and waited for some more to be finished. When Melanie gave them to us, there were only three on the plate. We stared at her, trying to mentally will her to make us more.

She stared daggers at us.

"You've got to be kidding me. I'm not making any more! You guys have already eaten, like, seven a piece already! You're not getting anymore," We tried to mentally will her to make more again. She turned around sharply and walked out of the kitchen.

"YOU'RE WELCOME!" she screamed at us. We just ate our last pancake in silence. When we finished them, we washed off our plates and stood there a few minutes.

"Uh, you want to…go…outside?" Sunny asked. Really, there was nothing else to do so we went in the yard. We sat on a bench for a little while. Then, Wanda ran inside and came back with some bubbles and her laptop again. She turned on some music and we blew bubbles and popped each other's.

We got bored pretty quickly so we sat down where we were on the ground and listened to music. That's when "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Segar came on. We stood up and danced around the yard throughout the entire song. Sunny sang along with the song. We laughed at her poor attempts at singing like him.

It turns out, Wanda's laptop automatically went to her old songs play list because "Jessie's Girl" came on and Wanda and Sunny danced and sang to the chorus. It was awesome. It's amazing how much fun you can have watching people dance their hearts out.

We listened to Michael Jackson and Queen, 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys, and stuff like that. "No Diggity" came on, but Wanda skipped it and went to something I've never heard before. She blushed and Sunny laughed.

"This is from 'Pitch Perfect'. The riff off. Some of the songs are better when they do it. Especially 'No Diggity'," and she blushed more as it went on. It was actually really cool that people can do that. Sunny was still laughing at Wanda. "No Diggity" WAS much better when they did it.

It went on to another thing like what we just listened to. Wanda said it was the Treblemakers' Final Performance of the movie. I'm clueless to what she's talking about, but these guys were pretty awesome, too. The rapping was my favorite (if it's not too weird for me, as a guy, to have a favorite from this) part, though.

When the Bellas came on, Sunny made Wanda dance to it. Wanda told me to close my eyes, but I peeked between my fingers to watch her. She was great! I don't know why she doesn't dance. She was just amazing. Her eyes were closed as she danced. Sunny sat beside me as Wanda danced. She pulled my hands away so I could see her better.

When she finished, she saw my hands away from my face and turned bright red. We laughed as she sat down. The song that was on the radio the night I took her to Jeb's diner came on. Wanda smiled, but I saw the tears in her eyes. One lone tear fell down her cheek as she stared at nothing. I leaned over and wiped it away. I gave me a small smile.

"This reminds me of when Burns and I went all around the country, foster home to foster home. He always said we were both Misguided Ghosts who misguided each other, but went together as we traveled," she smiles a little more as a few more tears fall down her face.

"How did you guys actually meet any ways?" Sunny asks gently. Wanda just laughed as "Pressure" by Paramore came on.

"Well, my parents died when I was four and none of my family wanted a wild little four year old to take care of. So, I was sent to the orphanage that we would drive by almost every day," Her smile faded away. "My mom was pregnant. They were going to the doctor. When they were on their way home, another car hit them from behind, killing them both instantly. They died on the street the orphanage was on. So when I looked out my little window, I could just picture the burning car, a pile of rubble across the street," some more tears fell down her face and I started to wipe them away. She smiled a little bit and wiped the remaining tears on her sweatshirt sleeve.

"When I was at that orphanage for about a year, a few days after I turned five, some eight year old boys took my doll away. That was the last doll my Mom bought me. They cut her hair of really short and broke her head off," She started to sob, but kept talking. "When they got my Mom out of the car, her neck was broken, so it reminded me of my Mom. A freakishly tall kid went up to them and shoved them down on the ground. 'Don't you hurt her again,' he said and they got off the ground and ran off. I was still sitting on the ground crying.

"He came over to me and I flinched away from his hand as he reached it out to me. I was so scared of him. He smiled a little and sat down beside him. And he sat there as I cried. He helped me up when we had to come in for dinner and was the first person that had ever sat with me when I was there. It was Burns, my first friend.

"He stuck with me all day, every day. He was like a bodyguard. I turns out he was five, too. I never would have guessed, though! He looked like he was twelve or something. He was so tall!" She started to laugh and her tears stopped. We laughed with her. I could see the image, a smaller Burns, still towering over the rest of the world. When she calmed down she started talking again.

"About a month later, Sam came. She was so sweet and tried to stick with me and Burns. We immediately welcomed her into our friendship. She was there with us about three months when she was adopted. We were sad to see her go. I kept begging Burns to promise me he wouldn't leave me. I knew I wouldn't survive on my own without him. The next day, I hadn't seen him all day. I was too scared to go anywhere so I went to the room I shared with this girl who had ran away that night.

"About an hour later, he came in, a huge smile on his freckled face. I was kind of upset he left me to fend for myself, but that went away as soon as I saw him. He sat across from me on the bed. 'We're siblings, now, Wanda.' When he said that, I got upset again. I had told him the day before he was like a big brother to me, but he never said anything then. That's when he disappeared. He saw my face change and his smile grew bigger. 'We're now legally siblings. Florence had to do a LOT of paperwork, but now we're siblings!' That's when I hugged him," she smiled again, remembering that day. I smiled, just happy that she was happy. "We did all kinds of stuff. We were sent to California once and got to go to the beach everyday! We would go to Wal-Mart and pretend to be on the phone. He would say everything that someone on an isle was doing into the phone while I was a few isles over, giggling so bad, some people stopped to stare at me.

"When we lived in Wisconsin, we were so fat because we were living on a cheese farm and would go and eat our body weight in cheese every other day. In Georgia, we lost the weight from all the cheese and lived on a peach farm (we were sent to a LOT of farms). We did all kinds of crazy things. But I'll save those stories for later," She smiles and turns that beautiful shade of red.

We just gave stories from when we were little and sat there all day. Sunny got really quiet when we got to her and took a deep breath. Wanda looked at her, shock written all over her face.

"My cousin's name is Jay. She's from Kentucky. I don't like her, though. She's annoying, pushy, and way too nosy. I wasn't really close to that side of my family, so I rarely saw her. But when I did, she was just worse than she was the last time I saw her," She took another deep breath.

"Everything really started a few years ago,"

**Sunny POV**

_I took my bag out of the car and slammed the door, just like Jay wants me to. I hear her scream my name. I put my fake smile on and turned around to see her running to me. I drop my bag on the sidewalk as she grabs me and shakes me with her fake sobs. To me, she's too fake. Everything's fake between us. Mainly, it's her that's fake, but I am around her._

"_I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, SUNNY!" she screamed in my ear. I ignored the earge to push her away and slap her across her fake face. But I stayed strong and laughed a little._

"_I missed you too, Jay. So much," I meant the last part to be sarcastic, but she didn't notice. Or care if she did. I AM stuck here for two days. My parents can't stand her or her parents, my dad's brother and wife. So they get to do whatever old people do without their kids to worry about._

_She lets me go and I pick up my bag. She smiles the fakest smile I've only ever seen on her and grabs my hand and pulls me towards her house. You see, they just so happen to be rich. Jay ahs had more plastic surgery than Joan Rivers, and Jay's only 13!_

_When we get in the house, I wave to Sophie and Greg. Sophie's the little maid that's my age who's supposed to wait on me, but I like to talk to her more than I do my cousin. I see my uncle and wave at him and smile. He smiles at me back as I'm pulled towards my room._

_When we get there, I wonder why my uncle was in the guest hallway. Surely he didn't want to see me, did he? He doesn't like me anymore than he does Jay, and he just spoils her so he doesn't have to talk to her. Jay throws my suitcase in the chair by the huge bay window. She smiles another fake smile, so I do, too._

_We sit down on the bed and just memorize each other's faces. Hers changes every time I see her. Right now, her eyes were big from, most likely, another surgery. She had her eyes blue today, but who knows what color they'll be tomorrow. She had her hair in a pixie cut around her face. She looked like a Barbie doll gone wrong._

_My hair was long at this point, down my back, with some orange-red highlights in it. I probably looked kind of punk rock to her. I smiled bigger._

"_Want to listen to my favorite song? It's amazing," She smiled and nodded her head. I went to my bag and pulled out my phone and turned it on._

"_**Don't try to take this from me  
Don't try to take this from me  
Now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow  
**__She literally jumped about six feet in the air from the unexpected insanity from the song. I shook my head up and down as I rocked on my invisible guitar.__**  
Don't try to take this from me  
Don't try to take this from me  
Now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow**_

Feels like I'm waking from the dead  
And everyone's been waitin' on me  
'Least now I'll never have to wonder  
What it's like to sleep a year away  
But were we indestructible  
I thought that we could brave it all (all)  
I never thought that what would take me out  
Was hiding down below  
_She covered her____ears and crawled____towards the door. All I did was turn it up louder.__**  
Lost the battle, win the war  
I'm bringing my sinking ship back to the shore  
We're starting over, we'll head back in  
There's a time and a place to die but this ain't it  
**__Jay got up and ran to my phone and tried to turn the music off, but I got it before she did an just turned it up louder. That's when she started to scream at me to tun it off.__**  
If there's a future, we want it  
Now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow  
If there's a future, we want it  
Now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow  
If there's a future, we want it  
Now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow  
If there's a future, we want it  
Now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow"**_

_She charged again for my phone again. Before I could get it, she turned off the music. I gave her a look of fake shock._

"_Well , why'd you do a shitty thing like that for?" I asked her. Her face was red from anger. I smirked internally. She threw my phone on the floor and stormed out of the room. I let my smirk take over my face._

_Sophie came in, looking petrified. I smiled at her and she sat down on my bed. I walked over to her and started making fun of my terrible cousin who doesn't have good taste in music._

Ian and Wanda laughed, imagining the scene. And I laughed with them.

I started to tell them what happened that made that visit so different.

**AN: So tomorrow's chapter will start as the flashback on "what made this visit so different" and I'm just as excited as you guys possibly are. =D**


	19. Chapter 19

**So please wish me luck for tomorrow! I have to give my English PowerPoint tomorrow. Well, possibly tomorrow. Maybe Tuesday. But anyways, wish me luck! Remember my poll, blah blah blah. Ok, enjoy the chapter!**

**Sunny POV**

Once we calmed down, I took a deep breath. Wanda grabbed my hand and squeezed. I squeezed back and started to explain.

_Sophie and I were laughing at something I had said about Jay when there was a knock at the door._

"_Come in!" I replied. Greg came in, a grave look on his face._

"_Ms. Sunlight, Ms. Janelle is coming this way with a visitor. Sophie, start dusting things, Ms. Sunlight turn your music on and read or something," I smile. He knows how much I like to read._

"_Thank you, Greg. If Jay asks, I wanted some chocolate chip cookies," He smiles with me and nods. He walks out of the room. I turn on the first song I see and pick up "Divergent" by Veronica Roth and start reading at my bookmark. Another knock comes on my door._

"_Come in!" I say as happily as I can. Jay walks in, someone being dragged behind her. I look up from my book and I'm met with Jay's eyes in front of my face. "Sophie, you can leave now," I say. Sophie nods and leaves the room. The song changes, but I don't really hear it. I'm being stared down by Jay. She's mad, REALLY mad. Probably still from my music._

_I just stare back at her. "What do you need, Jay?" I ask as innocent as I can. Her eyes narrow._

"_This is my friend, Rhys. He lives in the new mansion a little before our property starts," He eyes light up, talking about what her family owns. Her follower puts his head down, is that a blush? "He was asking about you so I thought that you guys would like to talk. He likes that song you played earlier," Her smile looks sincere, but I can see the hatred behind it. So I give her the same smile. Her eyes get eviler as mine get smugger._

"_Thank you, Jay. Now, I highly doubt you would like to listen to us talk about a song I'm pretty certain doesn't 'suit your fancy' so to speak," I'm still smiling smugly, where her smile is completely gone. She nods curtly and stomps off. When she's gone, I walk to the door and stick my head out and look around. No one in sight. I smile as I shut the door._

_I turn around to actually address Rhys, and see he's staring at me, his eyes wide. It almost looks like he's in awe. At me? Why would he look at ME with awe? He blushes and starts to look around the room. I look down at myself while he pokes his nose around. I'm not dolled up. I'm not wearing make-up. I've got a Paramore tank top on and bootie shorts, a necessity in 90 degree heat in the middle of the summer. On my right wrist, I've got my cancer bracelets and rubber band bracelets on. Some say whore, I say "Just Sunny," like my parents would say._

_When I look up, he's staring again, except this time with curiosity. Now that I can understand. "I'm Rhys. Jay didn't tell me your name," he says as I laugh a little bit._

"_I'm Sunny," He smiles at me. "So you like Paramore?"_

"_Yeah. They're a great band. I like most of their songs," We start talking about our favorites. We get into a heated argument about are favorite songs. That's when a very pissed-looking Jay comes barging in. I ignore her as we continue our argument._

"_AHEM!" she says loudly. I just keep arguing with Rhys, though. Finally, she stomps over to me and shakes me as I argue. "SHUT UP!" she screams. That's when I turn around to look at her._

"_What?" Her face is red with anger. I feel the corners of my mouth twitch up. Her face gets darker. "It's time for dinner," she says, the anger evident in her voice. "You need to get down stairs now. You should have been twenty minutes ago," I see Rhys blush from the corner of my eye._

"_Will do. Let me turn off my music. Rhys, are you eating with us?" I ask, truly wanting to try to keep Jay angry. But her face lightens tremendously. Rhys face perks up, too. I smile at him._

"_Sure if you want me to," I smile and take his hand._

"_Then let's go eat," I say and we walk down to the dinner table._

_**An Hour later In Flashback**_

_Rhys and I run up the stairs to my bedroom. Once we get in, he turns and shuts the door, locking it. He walks over to me; I'm staring out the bay window. His arms wrap around my waist, pulling me against his body. I hear footsteps outside the door. We freeze._

_I hear voices outside it. We hadn't turned the lights on so it was dark. They probably thought I was asleep and Rhys had gone home. We stood frozen, listening to the whispers. He releases me and slowly makes his way towards the door, listening to the conversation. After a while, the voices stop and the footsteps go away from the door._

_Rhys walks back to me and wraps his arms around my waist and I wrap mine around his._

"_Sunny, they're going to try to make me stay home tomorrow. I will come, though. They can't keep me there. You're my friend and you shouldn't have to deal with Jay alone," I snuggle my face in his chest._

"_I've done it for years; I can do it now, too. You, on the other hand, should think of it as a blessing, being kept away from the hairy she-devil," He chuckles, which makes me smile._

"_I'll see you tomorrow, Sunny," he squeezes me and crawls out the window._

_Immediately, I miss his warmth._

"I wanted to stay there a little while longer, not for Jay, for him. He took me to the lake that was on his property on a boat. He kissed me. I fell so hard for him," Ian stood up and walked a few feet away and stared at the fence. He's probably embarrassed to hear this, probably guessing where this would lead. I kept going though. "After that, he said that he loved me. I gave him everything I could give someone who had everything. The next day, Jay was smirking. I finally asked her what was up. You know what it was? It was that Rhys wanted to talk to me.

"When I found him, he said that I needed to go home. When I asked him why, he said that he got what he wanted and I needed to leave. I left that day. You know what the funny thing is, though?" I look Wanda in the eyes. "I didn't cry, still haven't, and I would have forgotten him if we hadn't done anything. He wasn't special at all. But now, when I see Jay, she's probably going to bring Rhys with her. And it's not like I miss him. I just want him to stay in his mansion, away from normal people that don't matter. That's what he said I was, someone who doesn't matter. But I know I matter. And I want you to help me show him what he's missing. Please, Wanda, PLEASE?" I beg.

**Wanda POV**

I stare at Sunny, shocked this innocent girl isn't as innocent as I had thought. I look over at Ian. He's still staring at the fence. I look back at Sunny, her eyes still pleading. I sigh.

"Fine," she fist pumps the air and shakes me, screaming "thank you" in my ear at least a thousand times. We start laughing and Ian comes back over to us. I start to get excited. "Mel has some dresses. We can see if any of those would fit you. We can eat somewhere nice. Oh! The diner has a patio area. If it's sunny we can eat out there. That would be a nice picnic lunch, wouldn't it? I can help Mel do your make-up and hair," I squeal. "I'm more excited than you are!" Sunny and Ian laugh. I feel my face heat up, but I don't care. I laugh with them and we talk.

About an hour later, hear Melanie screaming at someone. We get up and walk in to see Kyle standing in the living room, hands clentched into fists, and Melanie in the same position. They stand there screaming at each other.

"You ASSHOLE! Why in the HELL are you here? NO ONE LIKES YOU!" I feel Ian's arm wrap around my shoulders and pull me into his side. That's when I realize I'm trembling.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP MELANIE! IT'S NOT LIKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU ANY MORE!" Kyle screams.

"QUEIT!" Sunny screams so loud it echoes. We stare at her in shock. "Thank you. Now I am SICK of hearing people scream at each other. If you guys just SHUT UP, you would know we were in the back yard," Sunny stomps off into the kitchen. Ian squeezes my hand. I squeeze back and walk past Kyle to follow Sunny. Ian lets my hand go and stops in front of Kyle, but I keep going.

When I get in the kitchen, I see Sunny sitting at the table, face in her hands. I sigh and sit down beside her, putting her head on my shoulder as she silently cries.

"I feel mean. I shouldn't have screamed at them," Sunny says.

"No, you shouldn't feel bad. They needed to calm down. That was the only way to make them be quiet," And we sat in silence. Ian came in a few minutes later.

"I've got to go. Tomorrow's Monday," We smile and I hug him.

"You won't facebook me at 2:00 AM ill you? I fell asleep on the keyboard and I really don't want another keyboard impression on my cheek," He laughs, still hugging me. He lets me go and looks at Sunny, a big smile on her face. She looks away, pretending not to have watched us, the grin still huge on her face. "Bye Sunny," That's when she starts laughing, barely getting a "bye" out of her.

Once Ian leaves, I walk over to Sunny and playfully shove her. She keeps laughing though, so I walk up to my room and get my pajamas. I go to the bathroom and take a shower. When I get back to my room, Sunny's holding her pajamas and hugs me.

"Sorry I laughed, but you guys look so adorable together. And you guys are so clueless," I pull back and she smiles. I blush and start to giggle.

"You really think so?" Her whole face light up.

"OH MY FREAKING GOD YOU LIKE IAN!" she screams. I turn red as a tomato. She laughs and walks to the bathroom. "And I think he likes you, too!" she yells over her shoulder. I don't think my face will ever stay a normal color with them around.

I sit on my bed and wonder if Ian likes me. And if I like him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20! Awesome! Thank you all for the lovely reviews you have given me! Orange91, thank you for saying "****Seriously, you've got a gift with words :)****" I really appreciate it! Makes me smile. Sheerio4ever, thank you for reviewing EVERY DAY! I'm proud of every single faithful reader out there! I can't thank you enough for reading! Ok, chapter 20! PS, I found a song that I like that makes me think of Ian and Wanda. It's called "A Drop In The Ocean" by Ron Pope.**

**Ian POV**

_I was walking down the street, going to the new crappy apartment Kyle and I have been living in for the past few months. The little kids were all walking in front of me, quietly talking to each other. I smiled, remembering the strange things little kids think are important._

_They go around the corner, going to their parents. I miss my parents. They're probably still at our home in Maine. I want to go back to Maine, but Kyle says it's not safe, and he's right. I just really wish he wasn't. I walk up the stairs to go into the little apartment and see if there's anything I can eat._

We pull up to the house, silence is between us. It has been the whole way home. Since we were still at Wanda's place, actually. But he really had no right to go there and piss of Melanie. Poor Wanda, probably stuck listening to that right now.

I get out of the car and walk into the house. I immediately take the shower and stand there, feeling the water run down my body. I hear my stomach growl and sigh. I get out and throw on some jeans, the first think of mine I saw. I walk out of the bathroom and start to shiver from the colder air. I basically run my room and find a shirt.

I walk back to the kitchen to find some food. I hunt through the cabinets and find some Oreos. I stopped, remembering Wanda dipped her Oreos in peanut butter. I went to another cabinet and found some. I smiled and started to eat. Kyle walked in and stopped, staring at me as I continued to eat. He shook his head and went to the fridge, pulling out a water bottle.

He just watched me as I ate my Oreos and peanut butter. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"What the hell are you eating?" I look up at him, a look of disgust on his face.

"If it isn't obvious, Oreos dipped in peanut butter," I roll my eyes at his stupidity. He keeps watching me eat them, though. Finally, he walks out of the door. I just sit there.

Eating my Oreos in peanut butter, thinking about Wanda.

**Melanie POV**

**3 hours later**

I wake up, feeling like crap. I look over at my clock. Of course, I'm awake at 2:15 AM. I would NEVER sleep normal hours. I get up anyways and go to the bathroom. When I walk in, I get out the thermometer and check my temperature. A fever. Great. Just great. PERFECT. I go to the medicine cabinet and pull out some fever medicine.

When I look at the date, I walk over to the trash can and drop it in. Amazing we can keep medicine in a medicine cabinet for six years. It was kids anyways. I groan and walk back to bed. I stop at Wanda's room to see if she's awake. Sunny was asleep on the floor yesterday so I figured that I better make sure they were fine. I walk in and see them both asleep in Wanda's bed. I hold back a laugh at the sight.

Wanda's whole left side is hanging off the bed. Sunny's on her stomach, I can see her puddle of drool from here. Sunny has her right hand on Wanda's back, which looks like her only support from falling face down on the floor. I walk out before I wake everyone up from my laughter.

I walk back to my room and lay back down in my bed. I soon kick off the cover because I'm hot. Seconds later, I'm pulling them back around my body as I shiver in the warm night.

**Wanda POV**

"ACHO!" Melanie sneezes so hard, she bounces on her bed. Her nose is red from blowing and wiping so much. She has dark circles under her eyes. I get her another tissue before she can sneeze on her hands again. Gross.

She blows for EVER, so long, I thought it would bleed. Sunny walks out to get another tissue box. At this rate, she might as well live at the hospital. She starts coughing again.

"Melanie, I can't leave you here alone. I'll stay here with you,"

"Wanda," she says, her voice messed up from her stuffy nose. "Jeb will be here. I won't be alone. Go to school. And don't worry about me! Tell Jared where I am," she stands up and shoves me out the door. "Work hard, and come back after school," She shuts the door, leaving me stranded in the hallway. Sunny comes back with the tissue box. I smile and knock on the door.

"Tissue box," I say. Mel's hand comes out, takes the tissue box, and shuts the door again. I smile and run back to my room, Sunny following me on my heels. I grab my massive purse that all my stuff goes in. "Got everything, Sunny?" she nods and we walk to the kitchen to get Jamie. "Ready to go?" he looks up from his Math text book.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he says, shoving it in his backpack. He puts his cereal bowl in the sink and walks over to Jeb. I kiss him on the cheek.

"Take care of Mel today. She doesn't feel good. And don't make fun of her," I whisper. He just laughs. Jamie hugs him and we walk to the car. I look at Sunny. She just stares at me. I sigh and hop in the drivers' seat. I really don't like to drive. I'm always scared I'll hit something. Today must be my lucky day. I don't hit anything, get Jamie to school safely, get us to school safely, AND get to park beside Ian. I almost hit him though.

When I get out, I know I look like a tomato. Sunny about can't get out, she's laughing so hard. Then, Ian starts to laugh, too. I just get redder.

"Oh Wanda, its fine. At least you missed me," he says lightly. I just keep getting red. They laugh again and we walk on into the building. We find Burns talking to someone, but I can't see them with his back being the only thing I can really see. I lightly shove him out of the way to get to my locker. He turns around to see me. He's wearing a smile as big as his entire face. I smile, too. When I look behind him, I see Jodi. I smile at her.

"Hey Jodi! I'm glad you're back! It was sad without you here," she smiles back at me. I turn back to the black hole that is my locker and rip out my binder. I walk with Ian on one side, Burns on the other, something that you will rarely see missing. We get into class and sit down. Burns asks me about my weekend.

I hear Ian start to chuckle behind us. My face, yet again, turns red.

"Oh God, what did you do?" he asks, tensing up. Protective mode. I thought my face would burn off. Ian only laughed more. I hid behind my hair.

"Nothing except talk with Sunny, listen to music, quote books, drive around, you know, the usual," Burns relaxed and started to laugh at me with Ian. Thank God, class started before Burns could ask anymore. We sat through a very boring (who would have thought) first period class. We ran out the door to get to our lockers.

I finally got into mine and to class, two minutes to spare. As I got my stuff ready, Burns was talking with Ian about our…interesting weekend. I just hid behind my hair again. Burns saw my face burning and put his arm across my shoulder. I just glared at him. They laughed at my weak effort at it and sat down with me.

This class it was harder to get through without laughing. Ian and Burns just had to look at me for me to start to giggle. I bit my hand so hard from trying to keep quiet my giggles that it started to bleed. This was basically how all day went for me.

When it was lunch, we went to hunt down Jodi, Sam, and Sunny.

**Jodi POV**

I felt so loved today. I really couldn't help it. No matter how hard I tried, I really liked to be asked about all day. It made feel kind of special. You know, not crippled, not different, just Jodi. Yeah, just Jodi. Kyle was like my bodyguard today, walking me to every class, whether he had it with me or not. It was really sweet. It made my heart skip beats when he would grab for my hand, as if on reflex. God, I think I'm falling for him.

Kyle and Sam are walking with me down the hallway as we search for Ian, Wanda, Melanie, Jared, and anyone else we know that we see on the way. I see the cheerleaders I beat up are still covered in bandaged and casts. Good. They need them more frequently.

We got to the cafeteria and saw everyone. Kyle went with me to get my lunch. Yippy, the joy of figuring out if this is really chicken or not. We sit down and I see Wanda's face has a blush on it.

"What happened, Wanda?" I ask. She gets redder and Ian and Burns laugh.

"We spent the weekend together and Ian hung out with us. She's just embarrassed because everyone keeps bringing it up," Sunny says, laughing and wrapping as much of her arm as she can around Wanda, who is tucked into Ian's side. I smile at them. Now if I know couples, they would be the perfect one. Like ever.

We talk about thinks that won't cause Wanda to turn red again. Except from laughter. At one point, we're laughing so hard we're crying. That's when this guy comes up.

And that's when my heart completely stops for some painful seconds, and I remember a painful memory that I will never forget.

Shit._ I'm running down the driveway in my sundress, when my shoe falls off. I don't really care anymore, though. I just keep running._

_And I don't stop, even when he calls my name._


	21. Chapter 21

**So I presented my English PowerPoint today. I really hope I did good. Mine was done a little differently, but right now, I just need to shake off my nervous energy that's left over. Yes, I went through gym after I did it, but this is more of what calms me. Football doesn't help when you're female and really don't like sports. =) Enjoy!**

**Wanda POV**

I felt the blood drain from my face. I snuggled closer to Ian and he held me closer. I saw Burns tense. Sunny, Sam, and Jodi's faces went pale. Mel's face went red and Jared held her down as he tensed. Ashton walked up to our table carrying his tray. I thought Jodi would faint; it looked like she saw a ghost. He didn't look her way, though.

He glared at Ian. That's when he looked at Jodi, smiled at her, making her paler, and shoved Sunny over to sit beside Jodi. She scowled at her tray. He put his arm around her, pulling her to his side. She cringed when he lifted his arm. She just scowled at her tray as he patted her arm with the hand hanging down.

I swear, I thought Kyle would kill him.

"So Jodi," Ashton said sweetly, obviously faking. " I heard someone hurt you pretty bad. Can you tell me what happened?" He stared at her as she refused to answer. His hand wrapped around her arm. She still stared at her tray, silent. Her skin started to go red below were his hand was. He was cutting the circulation off to her arm. Still, she remained silent.

Her arm got redder by the second. I saw determination flicker in his eyes. Jodi remained silent. Ashton started to squeeze harder on her arm. Jodi shoves him away and stands up, picking up Ashton's full tray. It had soup, mashed potatoes, and green beans on it.

She dumped the tray of on his head.

**Jodi POV**

After I dumped the tray on Ashton, I stared my past boyfriend in the eyes, mashed potatoes stuck in his hair. He really needed that. He needed it sooner. Too bad I wasn't brave enough back then.

He looked at me, anger and shock written all over his face. I started shaking, remembering what he would do when I was stubborn. I look into his eyes again.

"You need to understand I want you to go away, leave me alone. Go jump off a cliff, hang yourself in a bowling alley, whatever. I DON'T CARE!" I'm shaking bad now. I'm so scared. Wanda puts her arm around my waist, but I'm on a roll now. All my built up anger needs to come out now when I know he can't and won't hurt me. "I hope you go missing and they find your body in a ditch on the side of the road. You don't deserve a life and you never have! You've been on your way to Hell your whole life and I want you to suffer. At least you were right about one thing, I'm not a genius. But I'm much better away from your shitty ass always in my face," And I stomp out of the cafeteria, frustrated tears streaming down my face.

I run into the bathroom, locking myself in a stall. I heard voices as they came in. Sunny, Wanda, Sam, and Melanie had come to talk to me, confront me.

"Jodi?" Wanda asked timidly. I love her dearly so I opened the stall and pulled her in with me. She wrapped her small arms around my waist as I rested my head on her shoulder and sobbed.

I don't know how long we stood there, but Wanda opened the door and pulled us out towards Sunny, Sam, and Melanie. They all patted my shoulder and tried to console me. When I calm down, we just stand there.

"We dated two years ago," They look up at me. Wanda's arms wrap around me again. One tear rolls down my cheek, but I leave it there.

**Two years ago**

_I walk through the door of the beach house. Ashton is sitting on the couch, watching some sport. I walk into the kitchen area to get a pop tart. Ashton walks in behind me. I smile, expecting a hug or a kiss on the cheek. I turn around to see if I can get him to kiss me, actually KISS me. I hear a smack and I fall onto the fridge. My cheek stings._

"_WHERE WERE YOU?" he shouts at me as I sink down to the floor. I start to tear up._

"_At the beach, obviously. I've been there all day," I look up at him. His eyes are filled with shock. "I'm leaving. We're through," I say. I stand up and walk to the bedroom._

"_What do you mean we're 'through'? Jodi, we are NOT over," his voice is shaking. I keep my back to him and continue packing._

"_Yes we are. I just said we are," I's silent except for the opening and closing of the drawers and closet as I pull my things out. He doesn't say anything as I sip up my bags. I pick them up and walk out of the bedroom, and out the door._

**Present**

I forgave him a few months later, but he knew how to control me. Every time I got stubborn, _SMACK_!" There were tears streaming down my face, but I let them run. I didn't sob, though. "We had been together for about three months when I told him I was moving here for eighth grade and I was breaking up with him. He hit and kicked me. It was Sunday, so I was in my sundress. I ran out of his house, not caring my shoes were left in his driveway, not caring he was screaming my name, not caring I would be covered in bruises again,"

I looked around at them, and waited for them to respond.


	22. Chapter 22

**Well, I still hate gym, still hate football; I'd say my gym teacher is just making me hate these things more than I did originally! She's got the cutest little girl ever! Ok, on with the chapter!**

**Wanda POV**

We just stood there, wondering what to say. I had no idea. I mean, I could tell her I understood from my own experiences, but she already knows. I put my arm around her waist again, showing it's fine. That she'll be fine.

We just sat there until we thought lunch would be over in a little while. We walked with her to her locker.

"**Jodi Grayson, please report to the office immediately. Jodi Grayson to the office,"** comes over the intercom. Jodi doesn't look surprised to hear it, though. She sighs and slams her locker shut. She kicks her back down the hallway. I jog to catch up with her. We walk to the office in silence.

"Do you think I could go in as a witness for what he was doing? I can get everyone else if you want me to," I say, staring at the floor as we walk to the office. She sighs again.

"I guess. I mean, I'll be telling the truth, which means that everyone else will have to go and be talked to," We walk in silence again. When we get to the office, Jodi walks in before me. I turn around before I walk in to see Ian running towards us.

I sit down in a chair as Jodi walks into the principal's office. Ian comes in seconds after she walks in. He pulls me up and out the door before I can really process that he came in. We walk over to my locker because he must have seen I needed my books.

I open it, reaching for my book and binder, but he beats me to it, grabbing both, yanking them free of their small, cluttered prison. I take them from him, shutting my locker quieter than Jodi did hers. We walk to class in silence. It doesn't feel right, the silence between me and Ian. It seems unnatural; alien-like.

We walk into the empty classroom, sitting our stuff beside each other. And we sit in more silence.

And wait to see who will go to the office next.

**Jodi POV**

I sat down in the chair across from Principal Howards' desk. It's not as comfortable as it looks, but this IS where 'criminals' sit. It shouldn't be comfortable, helps them lie better.

He just stares at me for a few minutes, and I stare right back. He sighs and clicks on his super high-tech looking computer. He looks back at me. This time, I smile, making him smile a little.

"I guess you want me to explain myself, right?" He smiles a little more, but he wipes his face of it, almost ashamed to share a smile with me.

"That would help me. But I think you should know," he says, resting his head on his wrists. "Ashton has told me some of it. I thought that it would be better to have multiple stories," I start by telling him about our relationship two years ago. By the end of that, tears start to pour down my cheeks again. He hands me a tissue and I start at lunch today when he writes down Ian, Kyle, Sunny, Sam, Wanda, Melanie, Jared, and Burns' names on a sticky notes, briefly stopping me to ask for their last names.

"So, I just couldn't get the image of my arms and legs bruised, my body soar, and all that out of my head. I just couldn't take that anymore. So I dumped the tray of food on his head and screamed at him. After that, I ran to the bathroom, the girls following me there. I told them what happened and they helped me to my locker. That's when I was called here," A single tear flowed down my face again, I saw his eyes filled with tears, too, but I pretended not to notice. He sighed.

"I think you should go to a councilor, Jodi. Just until you can move on from that," I shake my head.

"My friends were helping me through it. Much better than any councilor could," I start to get angry, but hold back, staying in my seat. He sighed again. Shaking his head, he motions for me to go. I stand up and walk out, closing the door behind me. When I get into the hallway, I see a door open.

And Wanda comes out, a terrified expression on her face.

**Wanda POV**

I see Jodi on my way to the office. She smiles a little, pulling me into a hug. Scared tears fall down my face on her shirt.

"I'm so nervous, Jodi. How can you be so calm?" I ask, completely bewildered at how relaxed she seems. She just laughs and lets me go, patting me on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine, Wanda. Don't get so worked up. Take deep breathes. Relax. And please don't cry," she says, winking at me, making me blush, but giggle a little. She walks on to class, and, for the first time, I walk to the office, feeling guilty that I couldn't stop Jodi.

I somehow manage to get to the office alright and into the principal's mini office- thing. I sit the chair across from him, scared beyond words. Ian had said I'd be fine, but I'm still scared. I've never been here before.

The principal smiles, seeing I'm on the verge of tears. I manage a small smile back and look above his, staring intently of the picture of him and a woman, looking to be in her thirties somewhere. He looks up at it, too, a fond smile on his face.

"That's my daughter, Allison. We went fishing over the summer and we always take a picture and I frame it up there," His smile still on his face, he turns back to me and I look at him again. "Can you tell me what exactly happened in lunch today, Wanda?" he gently asks.

**Ian POV**

I'm sitting in a boring class without Wanda. I sometimes look over to Burns, a worried expression that probably matches my own on his face. We sit there, waiting for Wanda to come back. I mean, I'm sure that she's fine. It just makes me paranoid, not knowing what's happening. I wish I could have gone with her. Hopefully, I'll be next and I won't have to be away from her any longer.

"**Ian O'Shea, please report to the office immediately. Ian O'Shea, to the office," **I hear on the intercom. That means Wanda's finished. Thank God. I high-five Burns as I walk by. As I walk down the hall, I hear crying and see a small blonde head bouncing up and down as she runs.

"WANDA!" I shout. She stops and turns before walking into the bathroom. I run to her, pulling her small body into my arms. She breaks down, crying so hard. We sink down to the ground. And I hold her as she cries herself dry.

Once she stops, I pull back to look at her. Her eyes are swollen from crying, but other than that, she seems virtually unharmed.

"What's wrong?" I ask as gently as I can. She smiles a little bit, making me smile with her.

"It was just my nerves. I was so scared; I thought I would cry like I just did in there. I didn't, but I knew I would if I didn't leave when I did," She blushes. I wipe her tears away with my thumb.

"No matter how much I really want to make you feel better, because I truly do, I was called to the office. I really don't want to leave you here alone, though,"

"Ian, I'll be fine. You need to go to the office before they call form you again," she says, lightly shoving my arm. I chuckle a little, making her face light up.

"Ok, then. Bye Wanda," I say as I stand up and walk towards the office. I get to the door, but I just stand there, watching as Wanda gets up and walks into the bathroom. I walk in and get into his little cube-thing.

**Wanda POV**

Once I wash off my face, I walk back to class, still a little jittery from my nervousness. I walk into class and sit beside Burns. He smiles at me, when he sees me smile. When I sit down, he leans over to me.

"Why were you crying, Wanda?" he asks. I look up into his eyes. He's tensed up a little bit. Again, protective mode.

"I was just so nervous that I had to let all that out. I'm fine," I smile to prove my point. He relaxes, but I can tell he doesn't believe me. I shake my head at his stubbornness and start working.

"**Burns Flowers, please report to the office immediately. Burns Flowers to the office," **the intercom commands. I look over at my big brother. He squeezes my hand and walks out the door. I wish Ian would hurry.

**Ian POV**

I basically run out of there to get to class, to Wanda, really. I see Burns in the hallway, man-hug him, and run on to Wanda. I get in there, out of breath, and go to my seat. She has her headphones on, listening, most likely, to Paramore, considering the jerky movements she's making to the music only she hears.

I sit down beside her, but she's not paying attention. I tap her shoulder and she looks up at me, faint blush on her cheeks. Her face lights up when she sees me and she moves her headphones around her neck. I can hear her music playing. No wonder she didn't hear me.

"Hey," she says. We smile, her face getting red.

"Hey. So are you ok still?" She smiles.

"Yes, I'm fine, Ian. Really," and then I start working on the worksheet that we had to do. Burns comes back and everyone else went in and back by last period.

I was walking down the hallway when I saw Wanda at her locker, surrounded by the girls. I could hear their murmurs from here.

"NO!" Melanie shouted before they could shush her.

"AW! That's so SWEET!" she yelled again, jumping a little again. Jodi smacked her arm. I stopped at Wes' locker and talked to him, explaining what I was doing. He agreed to pretend to talk to me until they quit talking.

"OH MY GOD!" Sunny squealed, grabbing Wanda's hands and twirling around with her. When they stopped, Wanda looked like a tomato. Again. They stood there and kept whispering to each other. I couldn't stand it anymore so I thanked Wes and walked over to the girls. They were still whispering. When they saw me, they spread out, hiding their smiles behind their hands.

Sunny started laughing, which made everyone else start laughing. Wanda, her face still red, put her hands on her hips, glaring at the others. This made them laugh harder. Melanie was laughing so hard, she rammed into Wanda, knocking them both down. They laughed, shockingly, even harder and tried to help them up, which made them all fall down on top of each other, making Wanda start to laugh.

"OK! GET OFF OF ME! I CAN'T BREATH! YOU'RE SQUISHING ME!" Wanda yelled. I helped the girls off of her and helped Wanda up, my arm casually wrapped around her waist.

The girls started laughing again. I looked at Wanda, completely lost, but she wouldn't look at me. So I shrugged and walked with her and the other girls. Burns came walking down the hallway and walked with us.

I walked her to Mel's car and hugged her bye. All the way to my car, I wondered what was so funny.

And then, it hit me.


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello, there, dear reader! Welcome back! So in gym, FOOTBALL IS OVER! I'm so happy! I just hope we don't have to do anything crappy again. I'm so sorry for not posting this yesterday, but it was lightning before I could finish writing this chapter. Harrypotterfreak38, I want to thank you for the saying 'holy cheese' from your presentation in English class. ;) If you didn't notice, I changed the description up a little bit. There ARE souls. They're not in Arizona, though. Ok, go on! Read it! I know you want to!**

**Wanda POV**

"I can't believe you guys would do that to me!" I shout at Melanie. She just drives on, laughing, but then blowing her nose. She took the bus here. Crazy sick person. I roll my eyes at her. "I now have a permanent impression of your elbow on my stomach," I attempt a glare, but then I start giggling as she chokes on her own spit. Gross.

"Hey, if you admit you've got a crush on someone-"

"I stayed silent, never admitting to anything," I interrupt. But she keeps talking like I didn't.

"-we're going to get all excited and tease you about it," she says like it's the way of life. I guess it is, but it's still unfair. I mean, she doesn't get teased about liking and dating Jared. Why should I get teased if I like Ian?

I think that again. _I like Ian? _Holy cheese! I LIKE IAN! We pull up to Jamie's school and he jumps in, Alecs behind him. I turn around.

"Hey guys. What's up, Alecs?" He looks down a little, is that a blush?

"Is it ok if I come over?" he asks.

"Like to spend the night and we bring him to school tomorrow. Oh Wanda, Mel, can he? Can he, can he PLEASE?" Jamie begs. I giggle.

"Of course it's cool," Mel says. Alecs pulls the door closed and we head home. Once we get home, Jamie pulls Alecs out of the car and they run to the door, the keys in Jamie's right hand. They run inside, most likely to the kitchen.

I get my stuff and hand Melanie her work as we walk into the house. I walk up to my room, throwing my bag on my bed. I sit down at my computer and look at my facebook. I got a message 15 minutes ago.

From Ian.

**Ian: Hey, are you as bored as I am about the science project?**

**Ian POV**

I've been sitting on the computer for about 15 minutes, waiting to see if Wanda will reply. She still hasn't so I just go to Google and search scientists for stupid Science class. Yuck. I look back on facebook. Wanda replied!

**Wanda: Definitely. I would be asleep, ignoring it, if you hadn't messaged me. Sorry it took so long, but we had to stop and get Jamie. Oh yeah, our friend Alecs (he's in Jamie's grade) is staying tonight with him. Jamie said for a 'project.' What teacher would give them the project that makes them blow hotdogs up in the microwave?**

I laugh. I remember Mom would get SO mad when Kyle and I would do that. _Mom._ I sigh. I miss her so much. I really wish we didn't have to leave her and Dad.

_I walk into the living room, Kyle walking in front of me. I've got a crowbar in my hands, Kyle a machete. I told him that we wouldn't use that, but he just said that we might and it would be useful. I roll my eyes. I know we won't use that._

_We watch intently, but it's clear. We nod and I walk into the kitchen. There's a Barbie on the table. A little pair of boots by the back door. I sigh silently. I just can't believe everything. My parents, our neighbors. All gone._

_I hear something upstairs. I freeze, my hands gripping my crowbar. I go upstairs where I heard the sound. I see a pink door at the end of the hall. The door is cracked open. Voices are coming from it._

"_Who are you?" I hear a little girl voice ask. I freeze again, afraid she can see me._

"_Kyle. Who are you?" Ah. She doesn't see me, but Kyle woke her up. Stupid. Asking what her name is won't make this any easier._

"_Dancing around the Moon," I peek through the crack. A little girl in shorts and a tank top sits in her bed, headphones and a laptop abandoned beside her. I see the new neighbor and Kyle smile a little._

"_Hello, there," She smiles. I really wish she'd been asleep. I walk in, both their heads looks up, staring at me. The girl- it looks curious, Kyle just stares daggers at me. I pick up her headphones and put them on her head and turn her music back on. She lays back and closes her eyes._

_That's when the machete comes down on her neck. I turn off her music and take her headphones off, not caring I'm covered in its blood. We leave through the window and get to the car. What kind of monster will they make me into?_

I look back at the computer, remembering Wanda. I immediately type a reply.

**Ian: *laugh* Kyle would do that with me. I think it tests how much heat and time it would take. I could probably Google the answer. The things you can find on Google. It's amazing and a little freaky.**

**Wanda: I know! It's crazy!**

**Wanda: Burns is going to eat dinner here. You can come, too. If you want, of course.**

I smile.

**Ian: Ok, cool. When should I come?**

I wait for a minute.

**Wanda: Burns just got here. You can come in about 15 minutes?**

**Ian: See you then.**

**Wanda: Adios buddy.**

I know our Spanish teacher would be proud that one student out of her hundreds is using her knowledge.

I smile. Time to go. And see Wanda.

With that thought, my smile is covering my intire face.

**Wanda POV**

I run around the like a chicken with their head cut off. I want everything perfect, even though I know it won't matter once he gets here. I'm so much more nervous now than I was the last time he was here. God, what's my hair look like?

Burns just watches me as I run around, chuckling every once in a while.

"You like him," he says, making me stop dead in my tracks. He laughs at my expression.

"What?" I ask, but it's clear he's right.

"Don't worry. I won't say anything. I can't promise I won't laugh randomly with my thoughts on what's happening," He winks at me and starts watching the TV again.

I hear a knock.

"I'M COMING!" I yell as I run through the house. I open the door to Ian, a huge smile on his face. I feel mine take over my face. "Hey Ian! Come on in!"

I walk towards the kitchen, Ian behind me. I go over to the TV.

"What are you watching, Burns? You've sat there since you got here," I ask, staring at the TV.

"I'm watching 'The Breakfast Club.' Well, about to. It's starting in about a minute," I stare at him, dumbfounded.

"The what?" I ask, still confused. They both look at me like I'm crazy.

"You've never seen this movie?" Ian asks. I shake my head. "What about 'Pretty in Pink'?" Again, I shake my head. They look at me like I've never eat chocolate before.

"Well, you're going to watch it now. It's starting," Burns says. Ian pulls me down to sit beside him. I cried, I laughed, and cried again. It was so emotional!

After it went off, we sat there for a few minutes, thinking though our emotions, calming down. Burns stood up and went to the kitchen. We got up and followed him. I got in the pantry, peanut butter and Oreos in hand. They smiled as we started to eat.

We really just did what we did last weekend. Then, we went outside, my laptop under my arm. We turned on my music again and danced. Well, I danced, they watched and laughed a little.

That's when the rain started. I hadn't finished dancing yet so I kept going. Burns left my laptop under the umbrella as he ran inside. When I finished, I saw Ian was still standing in the rain, watching me dance. He walked over, wrapping his arms around my waist. I felt the fire run across my skin, spreading as the rain tried to cool it.

I stared into his deep sapphire eyes, my favorite color. And we stood there, staring at each other.

"Would you like to go out sometime?" he asks me, a blush on his cheeks. He looks nervous. I'm elated, flying from my happiness.

"Sure!" We smile. He leans down, his lips centimeters away.

"I'm so happy," he says. His lips press to mine. I faintly remember the gentle kiss the night Jodi woke up. Except this is much more romantic. I mean, we're in the rain, we'll go on a date one day. But before I start to squeal from my happiness, I enjoy the beauty that is this kiss.


	24. Chapter 24

**I'M SO SORRY THAT I DIDN'T POST THIS YESTERDAY! I went to a sleep over Friday and had one last night so I couldn't write! I had fun at least! Ok, so I've got another story that I'm thinking about posting soon. If I finish the first chapter of it, I might post it later today. Yes, Ian and Kyle murdered, but Kyle made the decision to do it. Ok, enjoy this chapter!**

**Ian POV**

Her lips are soft and faintly taste like cherries. I gently pull away, afraid of pushing too hard. She opens her eyes, the rain coming down in sprinkles now, and looks at me, smiling. She looks so beautiful when she smiles. On our date, I want to make sure to keep that smile on her face.

_Our date._ God, I about can't contain my excitement. I keep watching her, my arms still wrapped loosely, but protectively, around her waist. Her cheeks turn red, but she doesn't look away. I hear shuffling from behind us. A giggle. We look behind us. There in the doorway, Sunny and Burns look away from us, faces red. Sunny runs off, laughing. Burns goes after her, looking back at Wanda.

I look back at her, she's glaring at the door, but it looks too cute to be evil. I smile as she looks up at me, all the anger gone from her face. I take her hand and pull her towards the door. I lean down to her ear.

"Can't get you sick before our date, now can we?" I feel her cheeks heat up again as I pull her inside.

**Wanda POV**

We walk inside again, dripping wet. Ian pulls me to the paper towels and hands me some. I smile and start to make a walkway across the carpet. I get to the living room, trying to not get noticed.

"WANDA! WHY ARE YOU SO WET?" Mel yells, running across the room to me. She takes the paper towels out of my hands and throws them at the others. I think she hit a lamp. I give her my 'come-upstairs-with-me-now' look and she drags me up there, not caring the carpet's getting soaked.

She basically throws me in my room, shutting and locking the door behind her. She looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to spill. I take a deep breath.

"Well, I was dancing when it started to rain. Burns left my laptop under the umbrella, which is where it still is, while I kept dancing. I had seen Ian watching me, still in the rain, too. When I finished, he walked over to me. And guess what, Mel. HE KISSED ME!" I whisper-shout the last part. Mel screams, running over to me, making me scream, too. "And he's going to take me on a date!"

"OH MY GOD WE HAVE GOT TO GO SHOPPING! I'M GOING TO DOLL YOU UP! YOU'LL BE EVEN MORE PERFECT THAN USUAL!" she continues like this for a while. I get some dry cloths on and unlock the door, Mel still chatting behind me. I walk into the bathroom and get a towel. I stand there, squeezing the water from my hair as she talks and talks. And talks. And talks. I finish and we go back to my room to get my wet cloths.

When we start downstairs again, she shuts up, obviously wanting to keep this to herself for now. She knows that if she didn't, my face would burn off and I'd go hide somewhere. I throw my cloths in the laundry room and walk back to the kitchen, Mel whispering ideas about what to do with my hair for my date.

When I get there, Ian's leaning against the sink, eating some more pizza, he smiles at me. I grab another piece of pizza, too. Mel looks at me.

"What?" I ask. She puts her hands on her hips.

"If you eat anymore pizza, you might puke. This is the most I think you've ever eat, Wanda," I know she's joking, but it still kind of hurts. It reminds me too much of my past.

_We sneak into the kitchen, scavenging any food we can find. I see some Pop Tarts, Brown Sugar Cinnamon, Burns' favorite. I pick them up and turn to give them to him. I see Burns has Cheetoes, my favorite. We trade and eat everything in record time. My stomach still hurts, growling and twisting. I'm so hungry._

I push the memory away and smile anyway. She doesn't mean it that way. She doesn't know. I eat my piece, trying to forget the memory.

Eventually, everyone had come back and got one or two more pieces, leaving seven empty pizza boxes. I went with Ian to the garbage can, him carrying five boxes, me two. I wanted to take more, but he wouldn't let me. I wish I was stronger. I want to help more.

We go back to the living room, plopping down on the couch. He puts his arm around my shoulders, tucking me to his side. I feel his heat, his breathes. I feel my face heat a tad, but no one notices. Soon, everyone's leaving and I'm in a huge bear-hug with my brother.

"I had fun, Wanda. And I'm pretty sure you did, too," I pull back and he's smirking. I gently smack his arm.

"Shut up, Burns," I whisper. He just laughs and ruffles my hair like he use to do. I turn around to see Ian walking to me, pulling me to his chest. I wrap my arms around his waist, happy this way. He leans his face to my ear.

"I'll facebook you, ok?" I look up at him and smile.

"Ok," He smiles. His pecks my forehead and walks away, waving at me as he goes.

And I wave at him, too, still feeling our kiss earlier and the warmth of his lips on my forehead seconds earlier.

**Melanie POV**

I watch Jared go, wishing that he didn't have to. I take Wanda's arm and gently pull her up to her room. I run to my room, throwing some pajamas on, and run back to Wanda's room. I shut and lock the door behind me like earlier and turn to see her lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling, a small smile on her face.

I jump on the bed, move her over a little, and lay on my back, too. She sighs, and then starts to giggle, making me laugh and get excited again. She starts to talk about how amazing the kiss was, how it feels when he touches her, ect. I faintly hear the front door open and slam shut, but I ignore it, letting Wanda continue to gush. Then, her eyes get wide. I just look at her.

"What is it?" I ask as she stands up, throwing on her Bobs, and runs to the door, unlocking and running down the hall. "WANDA!" I yell as I run after her. I get down and see her running to the visitor, her arms wrapped around their neck as she squeals.

"JEB! I'VE GOT A DATE SOON!" she squeals in his ear. He starts laughing as he pulls her hands from around his neck and puts his hands on her shoulders, trying to keep her still, but failing miserably.

"Ok, ok, kiddo. Calm down! Now, who's taking ya on a date?" He looks at me as Wanda throws herself on the couch, burying her smiling face in a pillow.

"Ian O'Shea. Don't worry, he's a good guy. He's on the school soccer team. I don't know when or where they're going, but I think Wanda might be excited about it," She squeals again and runs upstairs, her face blood red. I follow her, rolling my eyes as Jeb laughs and sits in the love seat behind Jamie and Alecs as they play "Call of Duty" (A great game that I destroy them in by the way.)

I follow Wanda, sure to get an earful about Ian's 'perfection' all over again. But to me, it's worth it if it means that my sister is happy. If she's this excited, Ian BETTER make this a good date for her.

It's her first one, after all.

**Ian POV**

We pull up to the house. I jump out of the car, Kyle on my heels, giving me no help to where I should take Wanda for our date. I'm DEFINITELY not taking her to Jeb's diner. I don't want her to be embarrassed by him. Even though he has the best food, and all I want is for her to have the best, I don't want her so embarrassed that she goes and hides from me.

I sigh. My mind his blank of any ideas. I look at Kyle, already asleep in front of the TV. I walk to my room and go on the computer to facebook. Wanda's on.

**Ian: Any requests for our date?**

She replies immediately. I'm so happy she actually wants to talk some more.

**Wanda: Not Jeb's diner. Definitely not there. That's about it. Oh, and I'm allergic to pineapples so no pineapples please.**

I really think my smile will be permanently stuck on my face when I'm doing anything that has to do with her.

**Ian: Eye eye, captain. How about…a movie?**

I can almost hear her laugh at the first part. I really hope she wants to see a movie because I can't think of anything else.

**Wanda: Sure! Would it be childish if I want to see "Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters?" Because the first one was awesome and I read all the books when I was little. Or littler anyways.**

I laugh at her joke. I was shocked she could joke about her height. She usually gets red and stares at the floor.

**Ian: I saw the first one, too. It was pretty amazing. I didn't read the books so I don't know what'll happen. Would you cheat and tell me the ending? Great joke by the way.**

**Wanda: Of COURSE not! That's why you can buy the books and watch the movies! No matter how much you ask, you won't get to know. And thanks for liking the joke.**

I can think of ways to get her to tell me, but she doesn't have to know that.

**Ian: It was a good joke. Now, do you want to go to dinner before or after the movie? If we go to the first showing, we will have to eat after. If we go to the next showing, we can eat first and walk around the mall for a while.**

**Wanda: Let's eat first so we can wander around the mall.**

I smile, yet again, at her being her.

**Ian: Perfect. I can't wait.**

**Wanda: Me either. Mel's getting sick of me. She locked herself in her room to keep me away.**

And that's how our conversation went for the rest of the night. Eventually, we said bye and I logged out of facebook. I got my pajamas on and layed in my bed, images of Wanda filling my brain.

And I fell asleep, a version of how perfect our date will be stuck in my mind.


	25. Chapter 25

**So my new story was posted yesterday. It's called "Another Life" for lack of a better title. As of right now, 14 people have read it, but I've gotten no feedback on it. I want to know if it's good and if I should continue it or not. I probably will, but I really want to know if you guys like it! Ok, rant over. I want to thank annalouise92 for favoriting this story! You're added to the list of amazing readers! Ok,you can read now. =)**

**Melanie POV**

I shake Wanda awake. We've made it through the week. Now, it's time to SHOP FOR HER DATE! If only she would wake up. I look over at her alarm clock. 4:30.

"Damn it, Wanda. GET UP!" She jumps up from my scream, hair sticking in all directions. The dumbstruck look on her face was priceless. I burst into hysteric laughter. She looks at her clock. Pouting, she throws her head back into her pillow.

"Wanda, you have to get up so we can shop for stuff for your date with Ian tonight," I stare at her unmoving form.

"Yeah, TONIGHT," she shouts in her pillow. I roll my eyes and walkover to her closet. She eventually sits up, rubbing her eyes.

"So where are we shopping at?" she asks as she walks over to me, pulling out a tank top and her bootie shorts.

"Phoenix," I say, peaking at her exasperated expression.

"God, your just TRYING to get me killed, aren't you?" She sighs and starts to put on her clothes. I walk out of her room, poking my head back in at the last second.

"Be ready in 3!" I say cheerfully, making her sigh. I laugh as I walk downstairs to make her some Pop Tarts or something.

**Wanda POV**

I walk downstairs to the kitchen. I see Melanie standing at the microwave. It beeps when I walk in and she pulls out a couple Pop Tarts, Red Velvet. Yum! I pick them up and break each Pop Tart into fourths and start eating them as she goes to the bathroom. I finish up my Pop Tarts and through away my plate. When I turn around, Mel runs up to me, pulling on my arm. She pulls me to the living room where she laid out my jacket and Toms.

I put both on and she pulls me to the car. I hop in the front seat and Mel starts backing out of the driveway.

And so begins our very long day.

**Ian POV**

**4 Hours Later**

I wake up, still groggy, but thinking about Wanda. I think we should hang out all day until our actual date, which is at 6:00. I pull out my phone and text her.

**Ian: Hey, Wanda. What are doing?**

While I wait for her to reply, I walk to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

**Wanda: Shopping with Mel in Phoenix. *groan* I really don't want to. She woke me up at 4:30! Sometime I think she's purposefully trying to kill me.**

Oh yeah. Mel wanted to take her shopping. Well, shit.

**Ian: Oh what fun! I'm being sarcastic by the way. At least you'll have fun later.**

**Wanda: Yeah. That's a plus to this misery. I mean, I like to shop, just not with Mel. She picks stuff up I would never wear. It gets annoying after a while.**

I can only imagine what Melanie wants to put Wanda in for our date tonight.

**Ian: Am I getting annoying? Texting you right now.**

**Wanda: Of course not! You're never annoying! You're fun to be around and text/facebook message. =)**

Sweet little Wanda. I still can't believe that I get to go out with this angel.

**Ian: Thanks, Wanda. Same thing for you. You're just so amazing. Like, all the time.**

I can almost see her blushing.

**Wanda: Thanks. Mel's getting annoyed at me texting you so I'll see you soon!**

**Ian: Ok. Bye, Wanda.**

**Wanda: See ya! ;)**

I smile and put my phone in my pocket. After I eat something, I just wander around the house, waiting impatiently for Wanda to come back from Phoenix. Why did they have to go all the way to Phoenix? I sigh as I walk to the backyard. I take out my phone and turn some music on. I don't really pay any attention to what comes on, just that it IS on.

I think about Wanda. Before I realize what I'm doing, I start to dance a little to the beat. My mind has a picture of where Wanda would be while I dance with her.

And then the light bulb turns on above my head, giving me the idea to make this a perfect date.

**Wanda POV  
**"I'm NOT going to wear that!" I exclaim at the mid-thigh length black dress. "The neck wouldn't stay up! If you haven't noticed, Mel, I don't have a lot up here," I motion to my boobs. She just laughs, scowling a little as she puts the dress back. I go to another section to look for something, hopefully nothing like what Mel might find.

That's when I stumble upon the perfect dress. I take it off the rack, running to Mel to show her. Her smile is huge, but I bet mine's bigger. We run to the dressing room, me going to change, her waiting to see what I'll look like.

I get it on without difficulty and run over to her. Her girly side takes over and she starts to squeal, making me squeal.

"Do I look ok?" I ask.

"Of COURSE you do, Wanda!" She looks at me like I'm insane, pushing me in front of the mirror. I don't even recognize myself. The dress is a dark sapphire, sparkles in a wave wrapping around my body. The dress hugs me in all the right places and ends around my knees. The straps go around the middle of my shoulders, the neckline a little low, but wide enough to still be modest. There is only one way to describe the dress.

Perfect.

We get the dress and go to all the shoe stores in the mall, in search of the perfect heels to go with the dress. We end up at the last shoe store in the mall, all my faith in this mall gone. We wander around my size, but don't see anything that would look good with my dress. And then I see them.

They're a wood wedge heel, but kind of tall. They're the same color of my dress, sparkles sprinkled all over them. I put on the shoes, making sure they fit and I can walk in them. Mel and I stand there for probably 15 minutes, squealing about my perfect outfit. We finally calm down enough to buy them and we walk towards the parking lot. We get to town a few hours later and I text Sunny, Jodi, and Sam.

**Wanda: Hey! Can you come over to help me fix my hair and makeup for my date with Ian?**

They all immediately say they're coming. This starts another fit of squeals and giggles. We eventually get home, the girls standing in the driveway with HUGE bags about to bust they're so full. I get my dress and shoes and we run inside to doll me up.

**15 Minutes Later**

Jodi curls another section of my hair with her curling iron.

"I'm so excited for you, Wanda!" Sunny gushes. "And I don't think I can thank you enough for getting me away from Jay and Rhys before they could say anything. This is much more fun," I smile at her through the mirror.

"I'm glad you could come. You guys are like my sisters. I couldn't do hardly anything without you," They smile, saying thanks. Jodi finishes with my hair and Mel brings the makeup over to me.

"Ok, hold still. I'm going to put the powder on first. Then, I'll put on the liquid foundation," She plans it all out, getting tweaked a little. She starts to do her magic.

I wonder if Ian will like it.

**Ian POV**

I pace around the house. Only an hour until our date. I'm starting to get nervous, wondering if Wanda will like what I've got planned. We decided not to go to the movies, considering the showing times were too early or too late. She let me decide what to do.

I just really hope that she'll like it. I look at the clock again. 30 minutes left. I better leave for her house. God, I hope she has fun.

**Wanda POV**

"Oh my God," I say as I look at myself in the mirror. Or what I'm told is myself, anyways. All my best features are enhanced to their best. Mel keeps saying I look like Miss America. And I really think I do. The doorbell rings. Mel tells me to stand at the top of the stairs until she gives me my 'queue,' which I'll have to guess at.

They all run downstairs, looking back at me every other step. I feel my face heat up.

"Hey, Ian!" I hear Mel say. Oh God, will he like this dress? "Wanda should be down any second now," I assume that's my queue, so I start going down the stairs, and see a gorgeous Ian standing at my front door, eyes wide with awe.

**Ian POV**

Holy shit. How did I get this lucky? How is it that I get to have this gorgeous girl on my arm tonight? She looks more angelic than usual. Oh my God. There are no words to describe her beauty. There wasn't before, there aren't now.

**Wanda POV**

He's wearing a tux. Oh my God, where are we going? I continue to walk down the stairs, towards my perfect date. Everything passes in a haze. I don't really hear the girls scream bye, but they do. I don't see him open my door, but he does. I don't even realize we're almost out of my driveway until I see Sunny jumping up and down, hand waving above her head.

I peak at Ian a lot on the way to… where ever he's taking me. We drive down the road a while, taking turns here and there. Until e pull into an empty parking lot. I look through the windshield.

Why are we at the school? I look over at him, he's blushing a little.

"I asked the janitor if we could use the gym for a while. I hope you like dancing," he winks. I'm so happy! His face relaxes from the nervous look he was giving me. He runs over to my side and opens my door. I hold his hand the whole way to the school.

We walk in, and I get Goosebumps. It's dark and eerie. I squeeze his hand and he squeezes back. We walk to the gym and lights are everywhere. There are purple, blue, green, orange, pink, and a lot of other colored lights moving around the room. And in the middle of the room are Mel and Jared, Jodi and Kyle, Sam and Aaron, Sunny and Burns, everyone, all dressed up in dresses and tuxes. I look back at Ian.

"What's going on?" I ask him, bewildered, but excited. He smiles as I smile.

"Well, you've told me before that you've never went to a school dance before. So, I figured that you should go with everyone that cares about you," I smile bigger. The music starts playing. It's Beautiful by Mariah Carey and Miguel. My smile grows bigger as Ian pulls me to the dance floor.

We dance around the room to the beat, my hands on his shoulders, his around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder, or what I could reach, and he rested his chin on my shoulder. We danced even after the song ended, changing to Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. We slowed down a little bit for this, but didn't stop, even when others stop to watch us. We lift our heads, smiles on our faces, and just stare into each other's eyes.

We eventually get too captivated by looking into each other's eyes to keep dancing, so we stop right in the middle of the dance floor. He leans down and my eyes flutter closed. His lips are so close to mine, but he doesn't kiss me. His breath smells minty._ Just kiss me! _I think. And then his lips are against mine when the song changes to Hallelujah by Paramore. Eventually, he pulls away, resting his forehead against mine. Eventually, we walk over to the table, the song is now Fast in My Car by Paramore.

We get some soda, mountain dew, my favorite, and walk around, talking and just having fun. We start to dance again a little later when the song's almost over. I find Mel and we start singing and rock out on our invisible guitars. Then, the song changes to my personal favorite by Paramore, Still Into You. I start to sing, not paying any attention to who else is.

When it ends, I look around, awe on everyone's faces. I blush and feel Ian's arms wrap around my waist. I look up and see pride written all over his face. He's proud of me, ME! I blush again and everyone starts to dance again. Ian and I sway to the music near the soda table. He leans down to my ear.

"You want to go?" I nod and I feel his smile. We walk hand in hand out the door towards his car. "I assume you're hungry," he said as he helped me into the car.

"Maybe a little," I say. He chuckles and starts to drive.

So far, best date EVER.


	26. Chapter 26

**So I have a system in progress right now. Tomorrow, I will post the next chapter to "Another Life" (which, by the way, I want to thank Peachbutton for being the first reviewer of) and Friday I will post chapter 27 of this story. I know, it sounds a little confusing and I wish I could explain in person, but you'll understand eventually. Also, my little brother is in soccer so I might be late on a chapter. I might not, where they are usually around 6:00, but you never know. Ok, continue!**

**Ian POV**

I drive her to Pasta Palace, this great little Italian restaurant on Main Street. I find a parking spot and walk beside her to the door, our arms linked together. When we walk in, Wanda tugs on my sleeve. I lean down and she whispers in my ear.

"The new girl, Kara, is the waitress here. Her dad owns this," I look at her.

"How do you know?" She blushes.

"Well, she was put in my art class and I partnered up with her because she didn't know anyone and no one really wanted to work with me. I think we're friends," She smiles, so proud of making a friend. I smile with her. Kara walks over to us, her face lighting up when she sees Wanda.

"Hey, Wanda! Hey… is it Ian?" I nod, smiling with Wanda. "Cool! See, I haven't met you before so I wasn't sure, but I was right! Ok, table for two?"

"Yeah, just us," I smile at Wanda. She keeps looking at Kara, but her face looks like a tomato. It seems to stay that color near me. Kara smiles.

"Ok, over here," We follow her through the place to a little secluded booth, a candle in the middle of the table. We smile at Kara, knowing she planned to give us some alone time. I think Wanda had a similar idea because she turned red again.

"Thank you, Kara," Kara smiles and goes to get our drinks.

"I'll get you a soft drink if you want, you don't have to get tea," She laughs a little.

"If I liked them, I'd get them," I give her a bewildered expression. She laughs again, getting red again. "I don't like the carbonation in them. They kind of burn my throat," I smile. We talk about stupid stuff and are laughing when Kara comes back. She smiles and takes our orders and comes back a few minutes later with my buffet and Wanda's appetizer.

"Are you sure that's enough for you?" I ask for the fiftieth time. She just laughs.

"Yes, Ian. I don't really eat a lot. This is normal for me," I shake my head.

"How can someone get full on something so small?"

"Well, I probably won't finish it so you'll probably end up with the rest of it," We laugh and start to eat. True to her word, I ate half of her food. Kara smiled at us when we left. We got in the car and I drove her to her house, laughing with this perfect angel all the way there.

**Burns POV**

Sunny's standing in the corner of the gym, swaying gently to the music and looking at her phone. I big hand claps my shoulder.

"Dude, just go talk to her. You've been staring at her for the past 20 minutes," Jodi walks over to Sunny and they start laughing about something. I look over at Kyle, a smug look on his face.

"Ok, so you were right earlier when you said I liked her. So what?" I look back at Sunny. I see she's walking over to the bleachers, still talking to Jodi. Kyle laughs.

"If she catches you staring, she'll think you're a stalker, dude. Just talk to her," I laugh a little.

"Fine. FINE!" I throw my hands in the air, showing my surrender. "I'll go talk to her," I start to walk over there, furious at Kyle and his amazing ability to make people do what he wants them to. I start slowing down, though, the closer I get to her. My nerves start to act up and eventually stop in my tracks, thinking of different ways it all can go. I keep watching Sunny as she talks to Jodi.

**Sunny POV**

I laugh with Jodi as she tries to cheer me up about being alone. I stop laughing when I see Jodi's expression.

"What? What did I do?" She smiles really big.

"I think you have an admirer, Sunny," I look out of the corner of my eye to see a red-faced Burns staring at me. Then, I turn red.

"I really doubt it's me he's staring at, Jodi. I mean, you DO look amazing tonight so," She laughs, but then gets serious.

"He's staring at you, Sunny. That's how Kyle looks at me," MY heart drops, but I keep my expression the same. She doesn't notice. "He's got a HUGE crush on you! I can tell these things. I won't leave your side until he mans up and comes over to talk to you," I sigh.

"Ok. But you BETTER be right. You have NO idea how embarrassed I'll get if he doesn't like me that way and you told me he did," She laughs at me, which makes me turn red. I hear footsteps beside me and I look up to see Burns, a worried expression on his face.

"Uh, hey, Sunny," He rubs the back of his neck and looks at the ground. When he looks back up at me, I smile at him. He smiles back a little, but I can tell he's still a little nervous.

"Hey, Burns. What's up?" I turn to where Jodi had been seconds earlier, but I look up to see her watching me and Burns, a huge smile on her face, and Kyle walking up behind her. I turn back to Burns. I don't show it, but I feel like my heart's been ripped out of my chest, seeing Kyle look so excited to be near Jodi. I smile at Burns, bigger and brighter than before, ignoring the steady throbbing in my chest where my heart used to be. He sits down where Jodi was.

**Jodi POV**

I stand there, watching Sunny and Burns, when I feel huge arms go around my waist. I smile and look up to see Kyle's smiling, too. I look back to Sunny and Burns and they're laughing at something. He takes her hand and they walk towards the door. I get excited and I squeal. Kyle lets me go as I hop around, fist pumping the air, screaming "I KNEW IT" to anyone who'd listen. I hear him laugh and I stop, bouncing on my toes. He takes my hand and we start to leave, too, everyone else following us out the door.

**Melanie POV**

I get in Jared's car and he starts to drive me home. I wonder where Ian and Wanda went. My mind goes wild and I start to tap my hands together. Jared chuckles.

"Eager to get rid of me, Mel?" I give him a look, but end up laughing with him.

"No, I was wondering where Wanda might be right now," We both grin.

"You might want to text her first. We're almost to your house," I rip my phone out and send Wanda a text.

**Wanda POV**

**15 minutes earlier**

We walk in a sit down on the couch, both staring off into space. I finally get up, him following me to the kitchen, and get out some Oreos and peanut butter. After a few Oreos, our mouths are kind of stuck together. We start laughing, but get chocked on the peanut butter and cookies. I get some milk poured and we gulp it down, chocking again, but this time on the milk. Eventually, we calm down and start talking.

"you're sure you liked it?" Ian asks. I start to giggle again.

"Of COURSE! I never went to my middle schools' dances because I would have only had Burns with me. I mean, he's great, but I liked going with a date better than I would have with a brother," He smiles with me, then he gets a little serious. He clears his throat, is he nervous?

"Wanda?" he asks, staring down the bar table.

"Yes, Ian?" He smiles a little, making me smile. I like him better when he smiles.

"Would you, uh, like to be my…" He keeps staring down the table. I wait patiently for him to finish, my answer ready. "my girlfriend?" he looks up at me, the fear evident in his eyes. I nod, grinning from ear to ear with happiness.

"Of course! I was starting to get worried that you wouldn't ask me!" we laugh and he picks me up, spinning me around in the air. He stands me back on my feet and kisses me. We stand there a few seconds, kissing passionately in the kitchen when he releases me, resting his forehead against mine. Again, best date EVER. I hear my phone beep next to me and reach behind me to pick it up, keeping our foreheads together. I look down slitely so I can see it.

**Mel: On my way home. How's the date been?**

I reply with the shortest response I can think of.

**Wanda: Tell you in a minute. See you in a minute!**

I sigh, tossing my phone back on the table and he pulls back to look at me.

"Mel's on her way," He smiles.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I had fun," I start to giggle.

"I think we both know I had fun," We laugh until we hear the door slam, Mel running in, her face red. We look at each other and start to laugh.

"What?!" Mel asks, a little annoyed.

"Oh, nothing," Ian says. He leans down, gently kissing my lips, and walks towards the door.

"Bye, Wanda!" He calls over his shoulder.

I see Jared in the kitchen doorway seconds before I bolt to my room, giggling like CRAZY. It's official.

I'm now Ian's girlfriend, and I feel like my life is complete.


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey there! Sorry I haven't updated this story as much recently. Life's been getting on my nerves. (One question. Why do Grandparents who have writers not have Word? I really need a laptop) So, I hope you enjoy! Also, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have this song called "Your Guardian Angel" and I think it describes Wanda, Ian, Jared, Mel, everyone in a relationship or just crushing on someone. Ok you can now enjoy!**

**Melanie POV**

I heard Wanda's door slam shut, but I could still hear her giggles through the door. I looked at Jared, curiosity written all over his face. The grin I'd been fighting got through and took over my face, making a grin appear on his face.

"I'm 99.9% sure they're official," I told him. He nodded his head.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time. I can't believe it took him this long to man up," I shook my head and kissed him on the cheek, shoving him out the door, promising details. I ran up to Wanda's room, where her giggles were now muffled.

I opened her door to see her head shoved into a pillow as she giggled, laying on her stomach.

"Oh WANDA! Ian's back!" Her head shot up, all red from embarrassment and she jumped up, shaking me hard.

"WHERE?!" she asked franticly. I started to laugh and she let me go, stomping over to her bed. "He's not here, is he?" I just laughed harder at how gullible she is. She just got redder and shoved her head back into her pillow. Once I calmed down, I sat down on the bed beside her.

"Are you officially a couple now? I mean, you guys have kissed how many time now?" She sat up, her face still red.

"Yes, we're a couple," I started to squeal, making her squeal, too. I let her talk and talk about how he is, apparently, 'perfect.' I let her talk, though. She let me talk about Jared, still does, and doesn't point out all his flaws. So I don't point out Ian's flaws and let her get all red from embarrassment as she talked and talked. She gets too self-conscious about what others want.

She keeps going for at least an hour or two. When she finally stops, it's because she fell asleep on my shoulder. I roll my eyes and shake her. She doesn't wake up, though. I sit there a minute. And then I get an idea.

"Oh, hi, Ian! Why are you back? What? You can't tell me why you want to see Wanda?" She jumps up, wiping the drool from her mouth, face mostly alert. She get red again as I laugh. "You might want to wash off all your makeup," She rolls her eyes, but runs to the bathroom anyways. I walk in the bathroom, grabbing a wipe-thing that I use to get off my makeup. Thank God I didn't doll up like we did Wanda. After that, I walk to my room, changing into pajamas and wrapping in my bed covers, falling asleep in seconds.

**Wanda POV**

I woke to a very annoying alarm. I groan, wanting to stay in bed and sleep forever. Then, I remember I didn't change my status last night and run across my cold floor to my computer. I log into Facebook and change my status from 'single' to 'in a relationship.' I know that I'll be questioned all day about the people who don't know all day, but I've got Ian and that's all that matters.

I decide to wear a sundress today and my heeled boots. My boots go to my ankles and have lace from the top to about the middle of the shoe. I never wear them, but they're so comfortable. I go downstairs and start to find something to eat.

Mel comes down, hair everywhere, eyes still sleepy. She sits at the table and puts her head down. I giggle a little and hand her a pack of Pop Tarts. She looks at them, then looks at me, smiling and standing up to warm them up, pushing me into her chair.

"I'm going to make you breakfast today. What do you want?" I think, looking at how tired she still looks.

"Maybe some cereal and some….cereal water Oh, and please don't fall asleep and drool in it," She looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Some _what_?" I stare back at her.

"Some cereal and cereal water," I play with a piece of my dress. I feel her eyes on me and I can't take it anymore so I look up at her. She looks lost and a little irritated. "You know, the liquid that you put in cereal," Her face lights up, knowing what I'm talking about. Then, she starts to laugh, bending over the table.

"You mean _milk._ It's called _milk,_ not _cereal water_, Wanda!" She keeps laughing as I turn red, embarrassed by my stupidity. Jamie stomps down the stairs, taking one look at Mel and me and rolls his eyes, walking to the refrigerator. Mel stops laughing and stares him down. He ignores her, continuing to make his breakfast. He sits down across from me, slowly eating. Mel starts to get irritated again, trying to will him to break. I can tell he's trying hard not to.

"Why aren't you at Alecs's house, Jamie. You were supposed to spend the night there," He starts to break a little, but keeps eating. He eventually does break under her stare, sighing.

"Well, me and Alecs were playing "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and I could tell he was cheating, but didn't say anything. It wasn't until we finished the game until I said something about it. He got all mad, saying I was lying, which made me mad because I'm amazing at that game. I KNOW when you're playing with a cheater. So we had a fight and I packed up all my stuff and came home," He started eating again.

"What time did you get here?" Mel asked through clenched teeth. She's pretty mad. Just great. Jamie blushes a little.

"Around 2:35," he mumbles to his food.

"_AM?_" Mel shouts, making us all jump at least a few feet in the air.

"Yeah," Jamie mumbles. He stands up, throwing away his plate and he races through the doorway, probably going to his room.

"_WE'LL BE DISCUSSING THIS LATER, JAMIE! DON'T YOU THINK YOU'LL GET OUT OF THIS! AND YOU _BETTER_ TALK TO ALECS AT SCHOOL TODAY!"_ she sighs, plopping down where Jamie had been seconds before. She looks up at me and I give her a small smile, taking her hand and gently squeezing it. She smiles a little and squeezes back. We get up to finish getting ready.

**Ian POV**

Kyle pulls up to the school, parking in our usual spot. We walk in the school and hunt down our friends. I wait for my beautiful angel to walk in, gracing us undeserving mortals with her presence.

Yes, I'm going all out for her, but who wouldn't? I hear giggling and turn to see my Wanda walking with Sunny, Melanie, and some girl who I've never seen before. She seems to be tagging along, and doesn't seem to be very happy about it. They come up and I wrap my arms around Wanda, kissing her lips and resting my forehead against hers. She giggles and smiles, making me smile with her. I pull back, my arm wrapped protectively around Wanda's waist. She leans into me and we confront the giddy faces of our friends.

Lily starts to get red and giggle, her face in Wes's shoulder as she tries to cover it as a cough. Everyone else starts to laugh, the guys clapping me on the shoulder. Wanda turns red and tries to bury herself into my side. I smile and slightly hold her tighter. We start talking until we hear an annoying voice speak up.

"Does _anyone_ want to meet me?" The high, shrill voice says, clearly irritated at us for forgetting her. I turn to see a girl that seems to be made of plastic. That's when I feel Wanda extend her hand out to this Barbie doll.

"Hi, I'm Wanda. Who are you?" I feel Wanda smile at her. The girl leaves Wanda's hand out in the open. She eventually lets her arm go back to her side. I don't have to look at Wanda to know she's hurt by the stranger's coldness towards her. I let my fingers trail up and down her arm, trying to make her relax. She does a little, but I can tell she still feels hurt.

"I'm Janelle, but you will call me Jay. I'm Sunny's cousin," She looks over at the lockers on our left and Sunny just shakes her head, glaring at this evil Barbie. I wonder what happened to Ken to make her so bitter. Jay rolls her eyes and glares at Wanda. "You will NOT speak to me unless I speak to you first. Do you understand, stupid?" My blood starts to boil and I let go of Wanda, lunging towards this mutant. That's when I feel multiple hands grab me from behind pulling me back from it. I feel Wanda's small hands on my arm and all my anger evaporates and turns into concern. The hands go away and my arms go around Wanda again and I feel her arms wrap around my waist, too, her face nestled into my chest.

"It's ok," I gear her whisper. I tuck her to my side and stomp over to that bitch who's trying to mess with my girl. I point in her face.

"If you _ever_ talk to Wanda like that _ever _again, I swear to God you will never see the light of day again," I turn away from her and walk Wanda to her locker. She's being very quiet. I'm afraid I've scared her. Damn it, why can't we just be happy and that never be ruined? We get to her locker and I hear everyone else coming over to us. I look around, but Barbie didn't come. Good, she has no right to be over here with us.

Wanda eventually calms down and stops shaking and gets all her stuff for class. I walk with her as we go on to class. We sit down, holding hands. We get asked multiple times if we're official. Wanda gets red every time, but answers proudly.

The rest of the day is a blur. The next thing I know, it's lunch and Wanda and I are walking down the hall, searching for our friends. We find Jodi, Melanie, Sunny, Sam, and, sadly, Barbie, but we don't stop for her. We get to the cafeteria and I go get us some food as Wanda sits down beside Burns, saving me the seat on her other side.

When I get back, everyone's there, my seat beside Wanda's still open. I smile as I sit beside her, giving her her food and tucking her into my side again. She reaches for her roll and dips it in her mashed potatoes. That's when Barbie comes, some guy with her.

"This is Rhys. And just so you know, he refuses to talk to you people. None of you matter. Sunny, I have now disowned you," Sunny sighs.

"Thank GOD!" she says it a little loud. Barbie scowls beside her equally offended Ken. No wonder she's so bitter. I mean, being stuck with that Ken, who wouldn't be? They turn around sharply, at the same time, mind you, and stomp away, complaining to themselves, most likely. I feel Wanda relax when their gone and everyone's laughing at Sunny, her face red. Burns puts his arm around her shoulder and squeezes her, turning her face redder. We just laugh and start to make fun of Miss America.

The bell rings and I walk with Wanda and Burns to class. After we get to class, the rest of the day is a blur. Nothing exciting happened. I didn't see Barbie or Ken anymore. Good, they should stay in their penthouse on the beach and fuck their brains out as they're handed free food and don't need any jobs because they're 'too perfect' to have to actually work.

I walk with Wanda and I listen to her as she talks about how boring today was, besides Barbie and Ken. She laughed at my nicknames for them. She said I'm good at making fun of people and giving them nicknames. She said she couldn't do it. I know she couldn't. She's too amazing for that.

We're walking kind of slow as we talk and Melanie gets aggravated at out slow speed.

"You need to walk faster, guys. You know how traffic is," she called over her shoulder. I grin at the idea that popped into my head.

"Ok, Melanie. We're coming," I pick Wanda up and put her on my shoulder and start to run to Melanie's car. Wanda's screaming, but laughing. We get to Melanie's car and I set her down beside the car. She stands there, trying to glare, but failing miserably. We laugh and she just turns red.

"I'm fine with you doing that, but don't do it _ever _again when I wear a dress," We laugh some more and she just gets redder, the sweet little thing. I kiss her gently and tell her bye, walking off to our car. Kyle honks at me, moving forward when I'm in front of the car. I slap the hood and jump in beside him. He's so stupid, but he's my ride home.

You know, so I can facebook Wanda. After talking to her all day.


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey there! So, I'm going to add some Sunny/Burns to the mix now. By the way, how would you combine their names? I don't really know. If you can, come up with one and tell me. Thank you so much for reading. Your reward, you ask? Obviously, this next chapter, which you will read…NOW!**

**Burns POV**

"SUNNY!" I scream across the parking lot as I run to her before she gets in her car. She turns around and smiles, waving her hand over her head. I smile as I run to her. When I get there, I'm out of breath, but I try to hide it. She smiles.

"Yes?" I smile with her, all of a sudden nervous about what she'll say.

"I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner tonight? I'll pick you up," She smiles bigger, turning red.

"Of course! Can you come around 6:30?" I nod and she smiles again. "Ok, then. Here's my address," She reaches in her purse, pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil. She writes something on it and hands it to me. I smile at her. She gets in her car, waving at me as she drives off. I can't wait until tonight.

**Sunny POV**

I pull into a parking lot, not caring where it is, and pull out my phone to call Jodi.

"Hello?" Jodi says. I'm surprised that she picked up before the third ring.

"I'VE GOT A DATE WITH BURNS TONIGHT AROUND 6:30!" I scream into the phone. We both start screaming and then I hear a few voices in the background.

"Hold on. I'm putting you on speaker phone, kay?" I tell her ok and then I hear Wanda, Mel, and Sam, asking what's wrong.

"Everything's PERFECT! Burns asked me out on a DATE TONIGHT!" We all start screaming into the phone. I hear Wanda tell me they're coming to my house. I get excited and give them my address.

"We'll be there in 15 minutes tops. BYE, SUNNY!" Jodi says, screaming the last part. I hang up, laughing. I realize I'm actually excited for this date.

Even my feelings for Kyle can't mess this up.

**Burns POV**

I get my phone out and send a text to Ian, Kyle, and Wes, who's becoming a pretty close friend of mine.

**Burns: Hey. Any suggestions for where I should take Sunny on our date tonight?**

I get replies almost simultaneously in mere seconds.

**Ian: I took Wanda to this great little Italian restaurant, Pasta Palace. She LOVED it.**

**Kyle: I'm going to take Jodi out to a club. Don't do that for Sunny, though. They're NOTHING alike. What about a movie?**

**Wes: What about a picnic on a hill? Like, in the park or something?**

**Burns: Can you just meet me at my house. I don't want to blow it.**

**Ian: On my way. Sunny just called Jodi and Wanda and the girls are going to meet Sunny at her house. I think they're going shopping. *shudder***

**Kyle: Got nothing better to do. Be there in a minute.**

**Wes: Sure thing, dude. See you there.**

**Ian: Where exactly do you live?**

**Burns: My address is 526 Eagle's Circle past the Food City.**

I hurry home to beat them there. Is it sad I need advise like a girl before a date?

**Sunny POV  
**"Would this work for a date?" I pull out some skinny jeans, a Paramore tank top, and black converse. Jodi and Mel throw their hands in the, falling backwards on my bed. Jodi put her hands over her eyes.

"You're HOPELESS, Sunny! Why would you pick that out for a DATE?" I sigh, my 10th suggestion pushed off a cliff and burned alive.

"Well what would YOU suggest?" I was starting to get aggravated at them. Sweet little Wanda said she liked everything I picked out. Melanie sat up.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go shopping," Her and Jodi got up and put everything back in my closet. I sigh and pick up my purse, throwing my money in it. Wanda takes my hand and pulls me towards the door.

I hope we won't be gone too long.

**Burns POV**

"So let me get this straight. I _have_ to kiss her?" I'm starting to get nervous. Kyle rolls his eyes.

"Of course you do," Kyle says at the same time Ian says,

"No, but I kissed Wanda on our first 'outing.'" Kyle laughs.

"'Outing?' Really?" He laughs some more. Ian punches him in the arm and pats my shoulder.

"Well, I really just took her to eat. It wasn't really a date because I hadn't asked her out yet. I actually kissed her every time we did something. Except when Sunny was there," We started to laugh some more as he started to turn red. "Ok, let's get you something nice to wear because you don't want to pick her up in something casual,"

"God, Ian. I swear you're turning female," We laugh as we walk towards my closet, Ian mumbling curses about us.

**Sunny POV**

"Are you nervous?" Wanda asks as Jodi curls my hair.

"I can't stop shaking so I guess I am," They laugh and I smile, curling my hands into fists to try to stop the shaking.

"Ok, your hair's done. Let's get you into that dress," Jodi says, helping me out of the chair and pushing me behind the screen in my room, throwing the dress over the top. I get it on, but can't reach the zipper. Wanda zips me up and Sam gives me my heels. Melanie comes up behind me with my mirror and Wanda makes me twirl.

The dress is to my knees, like the one I wore for Wanda's date. It's a beautiful teal color that looks like it would glow in the dark. I wore my hair down, it's so short I can do anything with it, but the curls in it make it seem longer. The glitter Jodi put in my hair makes my hair shine in the light. My heels are a wedge like Wanda had, but a darker shade of green than my dress.

Wanda makes me twirl a few more time, and we all sigh at what I look like. I hear a car door slam and I gasp, spinning really fast to look at the clock. Oh my GOD! It's 6:33! I run to the stairs, but Wanda grabs my arm.

"You need to stand here until we say your name. That's when you'll walk down, ok?" I nod. She smiles at me and squeezes my arm gently. I know she's trying to reassure me, but I'm too nervous for words. They all go downstairs and I hear them open the door.

"Burns!" Wanda squeals. I bet 20 bucks she hugged him. He chuckles.

"Hey, Wanda. Where's Sunny?" I hear a few giggles.

"She should be coming down any second now," I hear Melanie say. I take a deep breath like Wanda told me to and walk towards Burns. His eyes go wide and his cheeks flush. I smile at him as I take in his outfit. He wore some jeans and a dress shirt. He looked nice, but now I feel over dressed. Damn it. He looks happy and I think I see pride wash over his features.

I get to him and we link arms. I look over at Wanda, who's dabbing at her eyes. Mel and everyone else looks about to burst into a fit of laughter any second so Burns leads me outside. I see a cute little Nissan Murano in the driveway. Ironically, it orange, sort of like his hair. I smile at it.

"I hope you like it. It's my car and I didn't know I would be driving a model around or I would have got a limo or something," I blush scarlet and he helps me in the passenger seat. I see Wanda running to us and I open my door to her. She hands me my purse and hugs me, whispering in my ear.

"I hope you have fun!" I roll my eyes and she giggles. She runs to Burns and hugs him, too, kissing him on the cheek. She starts back to the house, waving at us. That girl is just too sweet. I smile as Burns gets in the car and starts the engine. He turns the radio on and "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri comes on the radio. I roll down my window and he does the same, and I turn the music really loud so everyone else can hear it. I move my arm in a wave motion out the window as the wind whips past me. I close my eyes, a small smile on my face. I hear him chuckle. I smile bigger and open my eyes to the town passing by in seconds.

I watch out the window as people wave at us, smiling. A little later, I see the leaving town sign. I look at him, confusion and curiosity written all over my face. He laughs.

"You'll have to wait and see," He laughs again and I stare out the window again, wondering where in the universe he could possibly be taking me.


	29. Chapter 29

**So I wrote an essay for this "Patriot's Pen" thing and if the people like it, I'll win money! Yippy for me! So after Sunny and Burns have their date, I'm going to do some Jelanie because I don't think I really did them. I was too focused on my favorite couple, O'Wanda. Sorry to you Jelanie people. I like them, too. Don't get me wrong. I just really love Ian. Also, I got this done so I thought you guys would be happy I posted so soon. Ok, enjoy this.**

**Burns POV**

I really hope she likes it. I'm nervous that she'll think it's the worst date ever. Oh God, I'm so nervous. But I calm down when I look over at her and see she's smiling. Her hair is whipping around her, creating an almost halo-like shape. She's just so beautiful; there are no words to describe her. She's just 'wow,' you know?

I see the sign for Amado, Arizona. They've got this little park-thing there and I always thought it was cute. Just like Sunny. She sees the sign and looks at me again, confused and, I hope, clueless to where we're going. I pull into the park parking lot and help her out. I take the CD player and picnic basket out, the blanket under my arm, and take her hand. We walk down the paved sidewalk until we get to this little tree. I sit down the CD player and basket and spread the blanket out under the tree. She smiles and takes my hand, pulling my down on the blanket with her.

I open the picnic basket and start taking out all this Italian food from Pasta Palace as Ian recommended. She smiles and takes a bowl of mushroom ravioli. Yuck, mushrooms. She sees me grimace and just looks at me.

"Mushrooms are really good. ESPECIALLY in ravioli," She looks at me like I'm insane for not liking them. Wanda does, but they're just so tasteless. I don't know how people can eat them. She rolls her eyes as I take out all kinds of pizza. As we eat, I point out the constellations.

"How do you know them all?" I smile at her.

"Wanda loves the stars and learned all of them. I didn't want her to be alone in her want for knowing about them, so I learned about them, too. They're very interesting, actually," She smiles, eating a piece of veggie pizza.

"Can you tell me about them," And I tell her about them. I tell her who found what, why they were named what, Wanda's favorites, and my favorites. She said she likes my favorites. I smile with her. After we eat, she opens her purse and pulls out some ice breaker, Duos to be exact. I take about 4 and she laughs at me.

"Whoa! This is awesome! So much flavor in such a small mint!" Her laughter echoes through the park.

"Well, you DID get 4, Burns," She laughs some more and I laugh with her, turning on the CD. I made a CD with all her favorite bands, The Fray, Paramore, Maroon 5, Green Day, Nickelback, All American Rejects, Secondhand Serenade, Linkin Park, Flyleaf, ect. She likes a LOT of music. It took us FOREVER to make it.

She seemed to glow when I turned it on and Paramore came on. She started singing along and I tried to keep up, but failed miserably. She just laughed and tried to help me. Eventually, one of the slow songs I put on there cme on and I took her hand, standing her up. We started to dance and she rested her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her waist and we danced, not noticing or caring the song had changed.

We danced until the CD started over. I fold the blanket and she puts everything back in the basket and turns off the CD player. I pick up the D player, but she takes the basket.

We walk back to the car and I start to drive her back home.

I hope she had fun.

**Sunny POV**

Burns started the engine and we smiled at each other every few seconds. I'm staying kind of giddy, wondering if he had as great a time as I did. I stick my hand out of the open window again and feel the wind whip passed me, my hair flying around my face. We start to slow down at an intersection. I look over at Burns and he turns to look out the windshield, his freckled face as red as his hair. I blush a little. The awe was there again, written all over his face.

We start going again and I let the wind try to blow me away. I remember when things got bad at home when I was little, I would imagine that if I stood outside long enough, the wind would take me somewhere better, where someone would take care of me. After that, my parents divorced and my mom remarried my stepdad, who I love more than my real dad, by the way.

I smile in the wind, thinking about my stepdad. I look over at Burns.

"You know what we should all do over fall break?" He smiles, assuming it'll be fun.

"What idea has snuck its way into that pretty little head of yours now, Sunny?" I smile wider.

"We should take a road trip. I've never really traveled before and I want to see the world one day. We could go over the summer, too. We can go over-seas after we go across the country. Wouldn't that be fun?" He laughs a little as we pull up to my house. He runs to my door and helps me out of his car.

**Burns POV**

I walk Sunny up to her front door. My hands are sweating from my nerves. I can't get the beautiful image of her in my car with window, her hair blowing all around her. If her hair had been blonde it would have looked like a halo. You know what? It DID look like a halo. No more of this 'if her hair was blonde' shit. She's perfect the way she is. That's why she's Sunny. She brightens up my life.

We get to her door and she turns her smiling, wind-red face to me. I smile bigger with her. She giggles and I clear my throat.

"Uh…" God, I'm such a stupid jackass! Why can't I think of anything to say to her? She giggles some more at my lovely comment, making me smile and rub the back of my neck. "Goodnight?" She laughs. Not a mean laugh like the cheerleaders do when they make fun of you, but the sweet laugh that I thought only angels could. That makes this beautiful creature an angel. I smile at her and she hugs me, looking up. I lean down and press my lips to hers, moving my lips in a gentle motion with hers. We kissed for maybe 3 seconds before the door is basically broken down.

We jump apart and I see a most likely middle aged man with thinning hair. He looks shocked and kind of embarrassed. He turns around.

"ALICE SHE'S FINE! SHE JUST STANDING HERE! I _TOLD_ YOU SHE WOULD COME HOME BEFORE CURFEW!" He looks at us and smiles, winking. He sticks his hand out towards me. "Hey, there, young man. I'm Duncan Anderson, Sunny's stepfather,"

"FATHER. You're my FATHER," Sunny says as she wraps her arms around him. He chuckles shaking his head, but I can tell this makes him happy. I smile at them and take a mental snapshot of them. I'm glad they have this happiness. She lets Duncan go and he walks back inside, shutting the door behind him. I can hear him talking to the mysterious Alice. Sunny rolls her eyes.

"Well, that kind of killed the mood," I say, making her giggle yet again. I'm starting to get good at that. "Well, I guess this is goodnight," She hugs me again.

"I had a really good time, you know, excluding the episode with Duncan," I chuckle.

"That's fine. I'm glad you had fun," I kiss the top of her head and let her go. She smiles and opens the door, waving before closing it. I smile and run to my car, skipping in the air and raising my fist, whisper-shouting a triumphant 'yes' to the whole neighborhood. When I get in my car, I text Wanda. It only seems right to tell my sister first.

**Wanda POV**

I'm running through my house, giggling like crazy, as Ian chases me. He catches me and puts me on his shoulder, carrying me to the yard. I can't seem to stop giggling! He sits me down and we lay in the grass, looking at the stars. I point out all the constellations to him, and he looks at me with awe and curiosity.

"I learned them because I just wanted to go up there, see my family again, and watch the world work below me. I wanted to travel through the universe, never staying where there was pain, because there wouldn't be any pain. In my mind, I would be invincible to the sadness and pain," He takes my hand and squeezes. I squeeze back and smile. Put my head on his shoulder and we lay there, staring at the stars. I hear my phone ding and I get up and check who sent me the message. I scream, jumping up and down. Ian chuckles and takes my phone to see what it says.

**Sunny: I thought you should know. Your brother is an amazing kisser. For future reference, don't kiss if your dad's home on the porch. Then, he won't open the door on you.**

Ian laughs and sits my phone back down beside us. He wraps me in his arms as I calm down.

"I think that's so sweet," I say as lean my head back against his chest. His chuckle vibrates through my body.

"It is sweet," He rests his chin on top of my head and we sit that way for a while, just content with each other's company.

I bet they'll be a couple by next week.


	30. Chapter 30

**Yippy! Chapter 30! I want to thank EVERYONE for reading this! I personally think there are better ones out there, but you guys are loyal to this. I am proud to call each of you a reader. I published a story yesterday on called "Rogue." It's categorized as "Young Adult" because I really didn't know what it would be. Read it if you want. Ok, hope you like this chapter! It's going to be longer than usual! *throws arms in the air and screams "YES!" really loudly***

**Melanie POV **

I hear the doorbell ring. I sigh and sit down "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." (Wanda told me to read it) I walk down the stairs and when I open the door, I see Jared, a grin spreading across his face. I feel a grin start on mine.

"Hey there, Mel,"

"Hey. What are you up to, Jared?" He laughs at me, like I'm crazy."I know that look. You're up to something," He just keeps laughing and walks in. I roll my eyes and turn around to see Wanda and Ian lying in the grass, Wanda's head on his chest. She's pointing at the sky, most likely talking about the stars. I turn back around to see Jared sitting down on the couch.

"Did you hear?" he asks as he picks up the TV remote. I sit down beside him and he puts his arm around my shoulders.

"Burns kissed Sunny," I look at him, eyebrows raised. "Burns told me. I would have thought Sunny would have said something. I'm going to watch the game here. My whole family watches it at our place, but it gets too crazy there," He turns back to the TV, but I know he's waiting for my reaction. Well, he'll get one. I stand up and turn towards the yard.

"WANDA!" I scream as I run out there. They both are still lying there, but Wanda looks confused and nervous and Ian looks protective and curious.

"What?" Wanda asks. I roll my eyes.

"What happened on Sunny and Burns' date?" She blushes a little and starts playing with a piece of her shirt.

"Well, Sunny texted me and said he kissed her. But her stepdad opened the door a few seconds into it and met Burns. Personally, I would have died, but Sunny just stared at him until he went away," Ian laughed a little.

"I would have liked to see Burns' face when that door opened," Jared laughs as he puts his arms around my waist, making me grin. Wanda fights a grin.

"Well, poor Burns. I know he was scared to take her on a date in the first place. And then her stepdad does that," She shakes her head, but I can see the grin. "Yeah, I would have liked to see his face, too," We laugh at her reluctance to say it. She probably feels bad for him. I think it's pretty funny, but Wanda would start to pout if we gang up on her. "But then, Burns texted me and told me, too. I told him I already knew so he called me. We talked for, like, 20 minutes, getting the story straight," She sighed, again shaking her head and grinning.

I walk over to her and help her up, Ian doing the same. I whisper in her ear.

"I think the cover for 'The One' was released. It might be on her website," She gasps and runs inside faster than I would have thought she could. They look at me, the curiosity evident on their faces. "A new book cover was released," They nod and let it go. Wanda screams from inside the house.

"OH MY GOD! IT'S SO PRETTY!" We laugh and I hear the printer working. A few seconds later, Wanda comes running out, a piece of paper in her hands. She throws it at me, pointing to it. "Look at that dress! That is my favorite one out of all three!" She squeals and shows the guys. I roll my eyes.

"Did she release the other covers?" I can see the excitement in her eyes.

"Yes! The cover for her novellas has the model in the blue dress, like for 'The Selection,' but it's a close-up on her face. The cover for 'The Guard' has this BEAUTIFUL gold palace thing on it! You can almost see it shinning," She grabs my hand and pulls me inside. "I'll show you! You MUST see it!" I laugh and let her pull me to the computer. The covers WERE very pretty. This lady is pretty good at choosing covers for her books.

We walk back in the living room and the guys are watching football. Wanda looks at me and we roll our eyes. We walk into the kitchen, letting the guys watch their stupid game.

We sit there, having a girl-talk session when we hear a car pull up. A few seconds later, we hear someone beating the door like crazy. Wanda and I get up and run to see who it is.

Sunny stands there, mascara running down her face and a red hand print on her left cheek. Wanda gasps and wraps her arms around Sunny. I see bruises all over her arms and legs. She's still wearing her beautiful dress we got for her date.

Oh my God.

**Wanda POV**

Sunny seems to melt from her rigid stance as I hold her. I help her up the steps and walk with her through the hallway. The guys gasp and walk over to us. Mel holds them back as I help Sunny up the stairs. She's limping pretty badly. We get to my room and I sit her down on my bed. I run to the bathroom and get washcloth, wetting it with warm water.

When I get back, silent tears are streaming down Sunny's face. I sigh and start to wipe the makeup and tears away. I eventually get the mascara off after three more trips to the bathroom. Her tears stop after a while, too. We sit in silence for a while. I about go crazy with worry and curiosity. She breaks the silence after a few minutes.

"It was Jay, Rhys, and Drew," She starts to shake a little bit. I squeeze her hand and she takes a deep breath. "After Burns took me home, I went to my room and texted you about the kiss. I even went and told my mom about it. Jay heard me telling her. She kept saying that I need to be loyal to Rhys. I got tired of hearing about it so I said, "Rhys wasn't loyal to me. We're not even a couple!" She just walked away at the time, but that's what got me scared."

**Sunny POV**

_I walk back to my room to see if Wanda had replied to my text. I keep wondering about Burns and if he liked the kiss. I put my fingers to my lips again. I still feel the heat of his lips on mine, even an hour later._

_A hand comes down over my mouth and I feel arms going around me. I start trying to scream and I kick and hit and do everything I can. I eventually stomp on someone's foot and I hear a gasp. Two of the arms loosen up. I rip my arms away and punch the huge chest in front of me, making them fall backwards. I turn around and knee the other one in the groin, which I've heard causes men a LOT of pain. I start towards my room, faster this time._

_I get in there and Jay is sitting on my bed. I scowl at her._

"_What were those guys about?" She laughs a little._

"_I told them you were strong, especially now. You DO work out so you're obviously strong. But you've slacked off the past few days. I might be stronger than you," I snort in disbelief._

"_Yeah, sure, Jay. Like THAT isn't a lie," She stands up and walks towards me, but I keep going. I know I can beat her more than she could me. "You're just like a Chihuahua. Small, angry, babied, dressed up in pretty things since you have no natural beauty. That explains the surgeries to make you 'pretty,' right?" I feel a sting on my left cheek and my head goes back. I fall back and hit my desk. My hair flips in front of my eyes when my head falls forward. I see her walking towards me._

_The sting in my cheek hurts, putting some tears in my eyes. I refuse to let them fall, though. I flip my hair back and stand up, a little shaky on my feet, but standing. Her smirk falters a little. My eyes narrow and I put my hand out, grabbing a fist full of her shirt and pull her towards me. I get in her face and talk in a deadly calm voice._

"_Hit me again. I DARE you," I stare her down and she starts to shake. She looks down at her hands, curling them into fists. I smile and drop her to the ground. "That's what I thought," I grab my jacket and stomp out of the room. I kick the guys out of my way and don't look at my parents as I go out the door, slamming it behind me._

_I slam my keys in the ignition and start the car, driving like a maniac out the driveway and towards Wanda and Mel's house._

I grin, thinking about the pain and fear I've put in them. Wanda pats my arm and stands up, walking towards her closet. She takes out the box from the bottom out and hands it to me. I smile and walk to the bathroom, my extra clothes in hand.

**Wanda POV**

I sigh and sit on my bed again, staring at the wall. The door bursts open and in comes Mel, Jared, and Ian. I smile a tired smile. Ian and Mel sit beside me, fighting to put their arms around me. Jared pats my knee. I smile at them all.

"Who did that to her?" Mel's voice is full of hatred and anger.

"Drew, Jay, and Rhys" I swear the vein in Mel's head might actually burst. I sigh and hurry to tell them what happened.

"But she's fine?" A mix of pride and calm anger is in her voice. I smile a tight smile.

"She's fine. Proud and fine," They nod and Sunny comes in, dress in the box and a t-shirt and jeans covering most of her bruises. She sits the box down beside her jacket and I stand up with everyone else. I put my arm around her shoulder and we walk downstairs again.

"You can spend the night if you want, Sunny. You might want to tell your parents, though. They might worry and, I don't know, call the cops because you're 'missing' or something," They laugh and I hand her a water bottle. She takes a sip and sits it back down on the kitchen counter. Mel sends the guys back to the living room to watch the game that was 'very important.' I get out my fudge and sit it on the table for them. Ian kisses me and thanks me. I blush and tell them to get me if they need anything.

Mel rolls her eyes and grabs all kinds of junk food and we head to my room. We turn Pandora on my computer and talk about random things. We lay on our backs, laughing until our stomachs hurt. We get quiet and listen to the guys' groans and cheers.

I think we fell asleep because the next thing I know, Ian is shaking me lightly, saying his team beat Jared's. He kisses my forehead and tells me bye. I wave at him and he laughs as he closes the door again. I look around and see Sunny and Mel are in the same place they were earlier. I see it's 11:56 and shake Sunny.

"What?" she groans. I giggle a little.

"Did you text your parents?" She nods.

"I'm spending the night here, kay?" I laugh and lay back down.

I'm asleep in seconds.

~Line Break~

**Sunny POV**

I hear whispering a little bit away from me and open my eyes. The sun is blinding me so I cover my eyes with my hands, groaning.

"Stupid sun. Making me blind," I hear laughter and the room gets darker. I move my hands and see Wanda walking back towards the bed. Mel is sitting in her computer chair across the room. They smile, making my smile. I wonder why my left cheek feels weird, but then I remember last night. And Burns. I smile brighter just with the thought of him.

Mel stands up and walks over to me and Wanda.

"I'm going to make some pancakes," Wanda squeals and claps her hands. Mel stops her, chuckling. "You'll wake up Jamie and Jeb," Wanda stops, but I can tell she's excited. Mel can too and chuckles, walking out the door. I rub my eyes and sit up. My whole body is soar from yesterday.

"Wanda, what's today?" She smiles.

"It's just Saturday. Eager to leave already, Sunny?" She fiends hurt and I laugh at her attempt. The door bursts open and there stands Jamie, hair and pajamas messy from sleep.

"Did you know Mel is making pancakes? They're chocolate chip! Your favorite, Wanda!" She squeals and claps her hands. She looks at me and takes my hand, dragging me out of bed and down the stairs, Jamie racing in front of us. I plop my butt in a chair and Wanda tries to reach plates, but is an inch too short. Jamie laughs and gets us all a plate. Wanda crosses her arms.

"I could have got them. You didn't give me a fair chance," We laugh and she shakes her head. Mel gives her two pancakes and pats her head. She digs in. Jamie start to drool over them and then Mel gave us some, too. They were so good!

I take a few more for me and Wanda, making Mel a little mad.

"You guys should make some yourselves. I'm not your slave," Jeb walks in, sitting down after hugging Mel and Wanda. He pats my arm and ruffles Jamie's hair.

"Yeah. Oh, uh, Mel? Make me three," He opens the newspaper and Mel's eye starts to twitch from agitation. She sighs from frustration and starts making them. I laugh internally. Jamie starts talking about the new skate park a little past Jeb's diner. I can tell he's excited because he's jumping up and down in his seat.

The phone rings and Wanda goes off to get it. I keep eating my pancakes and then I hear Wanda talking. I'm not really paying attention until I hear her gasp. We all stop eating to listen to what she says.

"When?"

"…"

"Ok, are you sure?"

"…"

"Ok, bye, Ian,"

She comes in like a tornado, dumping the last two bites of her pancakes in her mouth and throwing her fork and plate in the sink. She runs upstairs, not bothering with an explanation. We look at each other, shrug, and continue to eat. About 20 minutes later, she comes running downstairs again, looking at us all in our pajamas.

"Why aren't you dressed? Sunny, Mel, you're making me go ALONE?" We just stare at her.

"What are you talking about? Where are you going?" Mel asks, clearly agitated at her lack of information. Wanda rolls her eyes.

"Ian wants t go to the skate park," Jamie drops his fork.

"REALLY?!" Jamie asks, getting excited again. Wanda nods and he puts everything away and races upstairs.

"Why does he want to go there?" I ask, clearly confused as to why that would be fun.

"Well, some famous guy's supposed to be there. I think an actor or something," She shrugs. "I can't remember the name,"

"Sure, we can go. Will Jared be there?" I roll my eyes.

"And Burns?" I really want to see him again. Wanda nods.

"Both are going," We jump up and run to get clothes on. I hear Wanda laugh and walk up behind us.

~Line Break~

"Hey Sunny!" Burns says, his whole face lighting up when he sees me. I bet mine did, too. I hug him and turn to see this huge crowd in front of us.

"Jesus! THIS many people care about skate boarding?" Burns laughs.

"Most probably came because they have one of your favorite bands here," I perk up, excited.

"Who?" He smiles at my enthusiasm.

"I heard they've got The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus here,"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" I scream and start bouncing around. He laughs, his arm loosely hanging around my shoulders. Wanda laughs at something Ian said, but I'm really not paying attention. I'm so EXCITED! There are no words to describe my enthusiasm.

After what felt like an eternity, we got in. I started running around wildly with everyone else behind me. Burns held my hand as I hunted through the crowd to see them. I heard someone say they were performing so I pulled everyone to the stage. Front row! The stage lights came on seconds after we got there and we heard someone announce them. I was so pumped for this moment!

Then, a few guys came on stage. They definitely did NOT look like the band. They went to the instruments and one guy came to the microphone. It was dead silent.

"Hey, there! We're 'The Happenings.' The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus couldn't make it, but you have us so I think you'll be fine," I took everyone and walked away. Disappointment was so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife. I sat down at a table, Burns still holding my hand. I wasn't disappointed now. Now, I was pissed off. I heard the terrible music echoing around us.

I groan.

"How can music be this bad?" They shuck and Burns chuckles. "I say we go somewhere else. Somewhere with good music,"

"We can hang out in your car," Wanda says. We laugh a little and she gets red. Mel's face lights up.

"We can go to Phoenix!" Wanda groans.

"Why do you like Phoenix so much? I don't like how crowded it is there," Mel laughs and pulls her up. Wanda goes limp Mel falls down with her. They lay there in a crumpled heap for about 15 minutes while we laugh at them. Mel gets mad at Wanda so she yanks her up and drags her towards the car. We all run after them, still laughing. We can hear Wanda laughing, too.

~Line Break~

**Wanda POV**

I flipped through Sunny's CD bag, looking for a CD I wanted to listen to. I couldn't find anything until I remembered I made one for my car, but forgot it in my bag. I took it out and handed it to her. The first song is "Crushcrushcrush" by Paramore, one of my favorites, and Mel, Sunny, and I start to sing. No one else knows the words I guess. Mainly, Paramore was on it, but there were other bands, too.

Sunny takes out my CD after a few songs and puts in one of hers. We wait, wondering why she's grinning so much. Then, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen came on. We all sang to it as we drove down the highway. Burns tried to make jokes, but ended up missing something, which was pretty funny. Eventually, we made it to Phoenix. Sunny and Mel drug me to the clothes, but they let me go into a few book stores.

We found the guys at the Hot Pocket Imporium, obviously eating Hot Pockets. Mel rolls her eyes at them.

"No matter WHERE we go, they go to the food," I laugh with Sunny and I get my money out so I can eat one. When I get back, Mel looks at me with great irritation.

"What?" I ask as I take a bit. Everyone laughs as Mel rolls her eyes, yet again.

"She just got finished with this long-ass speech about us men and our appetites. And here you come eating," We laugh and Mel crosses her arms. She points at me.

"When you finish THAT," she jabs her finger in my Hot Pocket. "we're going to continue shopping. And NO book store stops," I raise my eyebrows and put a hand on my hip.

"There WILL be book store stops," The guys and Sunny are about to crack from laughter, but Mel puts on a determined look.

"We'll finish this later,"

"Why not now?" Now I'm pushing it, but she messed with my Hot Pocket. No one has a right to do that. Her eyes narrow and she huffs. I smile victoriously. "We'll be stopping at EVERY book store now. You don't mess with someone's Hot Pocket, Mel. EVER," I finish my Hot Pocket and get up to throw away my napkin.

Word of advice to everyone. Do NOT mess with my Hot Pocket.


	31. Chapter 31

**So I saw that I think 2 or 3 people have read "Rogue" on but I haven't got any reviews on it though. Please review it if you read it. Again, it is classified under Young Adult. I'm not telling you that you HAVE to read it, just suggesting it. Fall Break is FINALLY HERE! There might be more chapters in your future! ;) I have a new favorite and follower for this story so you rock just as much as my other favoriters, followers and reviewers. Please enjoy this and I'm sorry that I feel like it's been forever since I updated. Life has been getting in the way. Ok, you can read now!**

**Ian POV**

Wanda was asleep on the last isle of Books-A-Million. I sigh, a grin spreading across my face as I see her hand is holding her page, even in her sleep. I open the book and see the page number (page 96) and put it on the shelf. I pick her up, say goodnight to the employees and start walking towards the mall exit. People stare, but I'm just happy that she's in my arms. She starts to move so I find a bench and sit her on it. Her eyes open, but they're full of unshed tears.

"Wanda, honey, what's wrong?" She shakes her head.

"I didn't see what page I was on," I laugh a little and I see her face turn red.

"You were on page 96," The tears immediately go away and she wraps her arms around my neck, laughing to work off her nerves.

"Thank you SO much!" She kisses my cheek and I take her hand, helping her stand up. I have a feeling my face is turning red. We start to swing our arms and she starts to giggle. We eventually make it to the exit where everybody's there, obviously pissed at us for being late. Mel runs up to Wanda.

"Where WERE you!?" Wanda turns red, embarrassed about being scolded.

"I fell asleep in Books-A-Million when I was reading. It was a very good book, by the way," Mel rolls her eyes.

"Well, I'm tired and it's a long drive back home," Sunny clears her throat, making Mel turn around and sigh. "What?" Sunny turn red and starts tapping her fingers against each other.

"Well, there are a few hotels on Falcon Drive. We could stay at one of them and go home tomorrow," She stares at the floor and Wanda walks over to her, hugging her like she would a sister, and whispers with her, making Sunny smile. Mel sighs and pulls out her phone.

"Let's see what Jeb says," Wanda groans and pushes her forehead on Sunny's shoulder. Sunny laughs and pats her head. Mel starts laughing and passes her phone around, showing their conversation.

**Melanie: Hey, we're going to spend the night at a hotel here in Phoenix. Be home tomorrow.**

**Jeb: Sure. Don't be stupid.**

**Melanie: Kyle's at home.**

**Jeb: You'll be fine.**

We started laughing and Wanda was fighting a grin. Then, she yawned and walked into the mall exit door. I picked her up off the ground and she had a bewildered expression on her face.

"When did they put that door there?" I just laughed and carried her to the car. I think I fell asleep because I woke up and my arm was wrapped protectively around Wanda's waist as she slept with her head resting on my chest. I smiled and picked her up, careful not to wake her. Jared checked us in and I too Wanda to her and Mel's room.

I lied her down on the bed and stood over her, watching this beautiful sleep for a second. I kissed her forehead and walked to my room.

I fell into unconsciousness within seconds of landing on the bed.

**Wanda POV**

I woke up to the bed sinking down to my right, causing me to fall right off into the cold and very hard floor. Note to self, be more careful on beds. I open my eyes and see Sunny's face staring at me, a worried expression on her face. She smiles when I open my eyes.

"Wanda! Are you ok?" I groan in response.

"A little. The floor hurts when you fall," Sunny laughs and helps me up. I walked over to a chair and sat down, facing away from the window so I could let my eyes adjust. The door opened and Mel walked in, a plate filled to the top with food. She saw me and smiled, waving as best she could without dropping her food and continued to eat her muffin. My eyes slowly widened as the sun started to shine brighter outside. Sunny yawned and I heard her stomach growl. Then mine growled, making us laugh. I take her hand and we go out the door, laughing and carrying on towards the elevator.

When it opened, Ian stood there with Jared, plates piled high with food just like Mel's was. We say good morning and go on towards breakfast. I got 6 pancakes, 2 waffles, 8 muffins, and 3 biscuits. We started to walk back to the elevator and saw that Mel had finished her first plate and was coming back for more. I felt my hunger kick in and sat down at a table. Sunny must have been just as hungry because she sat down in front of me and we dug in. Mel rolled her eyes, but sat down beside me.

As we dug in, Mel took a syrup bottle and turned it upside down above her mouth. Sunny and I told her that was gross and she looked at us like we were crazy.

"Oh yeah? Well, I challenge you both to a syrup race," I rolled my eyes, but we agreed. Ian and Burns came down right before we started and sat down to watch us.

"Ready?" Mel said, probably thinking on how she can cheat us out of winning. "Set? GO!" We turned our bottles upside down like she had done and I beat the bottom.

"Come on," I whispered. Sunny made the mistake of shaking it and got syrup all over her. Mel started to laugh and the syrup went all over her chest and down her shirt a little. I laughed, but kept the bottle over my mouth and it went in my mouth first. I turned it right side up again, throwing my arms in the air and my head back. "I WIN!" They laughed at me, but then I felt liquid on me and looked down. Syrup was all over me and I squealed. I threw syrup at them and Ian took a bottle of syrup to defend me. Burns started to defend Sunny with his huge syrup bottle. Where'd he get that from? Jared came down with Jamie and Mel poured syrup on them, too, getting everyone covered in syrup. Ian took me and Sunny to the elevator so they couldn't get us again. Sunny stole some dry napkins and started to try to get it out of her hair, but the napkins just stuck in her hair. She sighed, but a smile was on her face.

"I think that's the most fun I've ever had at breakfast. We'll have to do this more often," I laughed a little.

"Just get a lifetime supply of syrup and we're good to go,"

"Well, there IS that Syrup Emporium back home. I know a guy that could get it for us," Sunny says and we start to laugh again. The elevator dings and we go to our rooms. Sunny lets me take a shower first because my long hair will take longer and she didn't care to sit around in syrup. She told me that she just needed a pancake costume and she's ready for Halloween.

I washed all the syrup that got on me and in my hair. I'm surprised that the syrup didn't clog up the drain. It might by the time Mel gets back up here, though. After I finished, Sunny ran in there, her clothes obviously sticky and uncomfortable. I started to pack up our clothes when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to see a very angry looking Mel. She stomped in and beat on the door.

"SUNNY! I GOT TO PEE!" She kept beating on the door, but Sunny wouldn't let her in.

"I'm almost done. Wait a second!" Mel stood there for 15 minutes, still beating on the door. Finally, Sunny opened the door and Mel ran in there, barely getting the door closed behind her. Sunny laughed with me and we started to watch TV. Mel comes out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her, and digs through her bag and pulls out some clothes and walks back into the bathroom. There's a knock at the door a few minutes later.

"Come in!" I say and I hear the door open.

"Hey, guys!" I look up and see Ian standing there. When I see him, a grin spreads across my face and I stand up and hug him. He chuckles and I pull back to look at him. His hair's a little wet, but he doesn't have any syrup left on him. The bathroom door opens and a very grumpy looking Mel comes out. She walks to her bag and throws her stuff in it. I roll my eyes at her while she can't see me. This won't be a very fun car ride. Ian wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me to his side and Mel zips up her bag and walks over to the door. Her hand rests on the door knob and she looks back at us.

"Aren't you guys ready?" I hear Sunny sigh and get up, zipping up her bag, too. I run and do the same, but Ian takes my bag, refusing to let me carry it. I sigh and walk with him and the girls to the elevator. When we get there, Jamie, Jared, and Burns are standing there waiting for us. Burns' face lit up when he saw Sunny and he hugged her. He hugged me, too. I mean, I AM his little sister, so he should hug me. We get in the elevator and Burns checks us out while we put the bags back in the car.

Burns comes running out and Sunny looks back at all of us before she buckles.

"Ok, so straight home or somewhere else. And, yes, I'll go just about everywhere," Jamie raises his hand and waves it around in the air. Sunny chuckles at his boyish-ness. "Do you have a request, Jamie?" He nods his head.

"Could we go to get something to eat? I really want a milkshake and some fries," I perk up.

"I could totally go for milkshake and fires," Jamie side hugs her, throwing Sunny and Mel his puppy dog eyes. Mel sighs.

"Is McDonald's ok?" Jamie lets me go and fist pumps the air.

And so we went to McDonald's and I got a strawberry milkshake and dipped my fries in it. I got a large Sweet Tea, too, just to drink after I finished my milkshake. I couldn't finish my fries, though, so Ian finished them with Jamie, Burns, and Jared.

Eventually, we make it home. I go and lay down on the couch, turning on the TV and see the news is on. Before I change it, I see that there was a car wreck on Main Street.

Right outside the diner.

I sit up, immediately concerned. It looks like someone was driving out of the parking lot and hit a pedestrian who was walking behind them. They show a picture of the victim.

Drew.


	32. Chapter 32

**Hey there, reader! We have made it to chapter 32! I'm so happy! What did you think about Drew getting hit by a car? Yeah, I thought there needed to be a little drama with him again. Don't forget him! He'll be BIG later! Here's chapter 32!**

**Wanda POV**

Ian's hand comes down on my shoulder and Mel sits down beside me. I have a feeling everyone's crowding around behind me. The door opens and slams shut, shaking the walls. Jeb comes in and looks at us.

"What?" I point to the TV where they have the diner on there. "That little snotrag! Doesn't he know by now not to walk in front of a moving car or is he a bigger idiot than I thought?" I hold back a giggle and Mel slaps his arm lightly.

"This is serious, Jeb. Try to show a little respect, even though he doesn't deserve it," I stare at the screen and can't help but feel bad for him.

"I feel bad for him,"

"What? Why? He doesn't need your sympathy, Wanda. He hurt you!" Mel says, waving her hands in the air like she does when she's mad. Ian's hand tightens a little on my shoulder and I pat his hand, looking up at him. His face is tense and I can tell he's holding back anger at Drew. I sit up on my knees and kiss his cheek, leaving my face beside his until he looks at me.

"It's ok. I have you now to protect me. He won't hurt me again,"

"He sure as hell won't," I smile, making him smile a little.

"Did he die?" We all turn to look at a very worried and confused Jamie who, apparently, just walked in, cereal in hand. I reach my hand towards him and he basically runs to sit on the other side of me. I smile at him.

"No, sadly, he's still alive,"

"Mel! Don't say that. That's not nice. What if he really did die?"

"Then my life would be a hell of a lot simpler, Wanda," She leans back, her arms crossed across her chest. I shake my head and look back at the TV where the weather is on. Jamie reaches for the remote and changes the channel to some cartoon thing. I smile and get up and walk towards the kitchen, Ian behind me as usual.

I take a water bottle out of the fridge and take a drink from it. As I do, Ian wraps his arms around me from behind and starts to kiss my cheek and makes his way down my neck. I giggle and his arms tighten a little around me. It's not bad, though. I turn around and his lips find mine. After about a minute, we hear footsteps so we stop and I get another drink of water as Mel and Jared come in, Sunny tagging along behind. Ian's arms are still wrapped lovingly, but protectively around me.

"I think you guys are so sweet," Sunny says as she gets a water bottle from the fridge, writing a capital S on the lid with a sharpie. I blush and Ian chuckles.

"I think that it's her bringing the adorable factor into this relationship," I blush redder and everyone laughs. Again, I get even redder. What is it with me and blushing?

Jamie comes running in, throws his bowl in the sink, and runs back to the living room. We laugh some more and remember our favorite cartoon shows. We start talking about the thoughts randomly going through our mind and Jared laughs so hard, water comes out of his nose. It was gross, but Mel just about died laughing. I guess it WAS kind of funny. But still gross, very gross. Eventually, Kyle texts Ian and he has to go, taking Jared and Sunny with him. After everyone left, the house was very sad and lonely.

I end up walking to my room, flipping through my closet without really seeing the actual clothes. I decide I want to wear my lacey heeled ankle boots tomorrow so I flip through my dresses, choosing one that has lots of lace on it to match my boots.

I think I fell asleep when I was staring at the ceiling while lying on my bed, bored out of my mind. The only thing I really remember was Mel shaking me around midnight that I shouldn't sleep in clothes unless we're at a hotel with no pajamas. I just waited until she left before crawling back into bed and falling asleep again.

**The Next Morning**

My alarm beeps very loudly and I groan, smacking at my table until I eventually hit my clock. I scoot out of bed and start to get ready. Yuck, Monday. I wish it was Christmas break already. Only about a month left! I really need to look for something that Ian might want. He hasn't said that he wanted anything yet! After a few minutes of thinking about this, I realize that I'm ready except for eating some breakfast. Wow, who knew?

Mel comes practically falling down the stairs and sits down beside me. I sigh and start breaking my Pop Tart into pieces.

"What's the matter, Wanda? You seem sad," I sigh again.

"Well, Christmas is almost here and I don't know what to get the guys! Especially Ian! I'm starting to worry, which you KNOW is my specialty," Mel just laughs and pats my shoulder.

"Just get them a gift card for some resturaunt. But not Jeb's because we really don't eat there much," I roll my eyes.

"There IS a reason that we don't go there too much. Jeb's usually there," Mel gives me a look. "What?" Then, she laughs again.

"Well, of COURSE he's there, Wanda! He DOES own it!" She laughs again and stands up, patting my head as she walks away. I sigh yet again.

What could I get Ian that shows how special he is to me?

~Line Break~

I walk into school and Ian wraps his arm around my shoulders, walking with me. We pass Sunny and Burns, who has his arm around her waist. How sweet! They follow us and Sunny talks about how terrible the rip off band was at the skate park.

"I mean, who DOES that! That was SO uncalled for! No one has a right to do that! Can you get arrested for that? You should, ESPECIALLY if the band can't play worth a shit. It's kind of like-"She stops abruptly and basically tries to hide in my locker.

"What's wrong?" I ask, putting a hand on her shoulder. She points to our right.

"Cheerleaders," She whispers and it echoes in my locker. I turn to see now completely healed cheerleaders walking like they own the place right past us. They stare daggers at me as Ian wraps his arms around my waist, nuzzling his face into my neck, making a smile spread across my face. They roll their eyes and stomp away.

Ian and Burns roll their eyes after them and we go to class. I hope the rest of the day doesn't involve the cheerleaders.

~Line Break~

I walk out of class, laughing with Ian and Burns. We stop at my locker and Sunny comes over with Jodi, Mel, and Sam. I smile when I see them, but it quickly disappears when I see the anger written all over Mel's face.

"What's wrong?" I ask. Mel shoves a pink note at me and I start reading it. I read it three times to be sure I read right. "Why are you suspended?"

"Apparently, cussing out the cheerleaders is 'wrong' and 'not lady-like.' I don't see why they should be such bitches to everyone that they think is 'below' them. If anyone's below someone, it's them with their shitty attitudes under us normal people," She looks up at Burns. "Well, almost normal people," I lightly smack Mel's arm.

"Hey, now. He's normal. A little on the tall side, but normal all the same,"

"I know, but I have to get my anger out somehow, and I really don't feel like punching anything right now, so you guys will have to be able to handle the verbal abuse instead,"

"As long as it's not to Wanda-" Ian starts.

"Or Sunny," Burns interrupts him, but Ian keeps talking like Burns never said anything.

"-I'm fine," I smile and he pulls me into his side and we walk towards the cafeteria, listening to Mel rant the entire way there. We get to our table where Jared's sitting with Wes and Lily. I'm a little shocked. I don't really know them that well so them sitting here is kind of exciting, at least for me. I love meeting new people, especially if I know they're nice. I sit down beside Lily and start talking to her while Ian goes to get our lunch, of course after I give him my lunch money.

He comes back and hands me my tray and tucks me into his side as usual while I keep talking to Lily and start to eat. A huge crash comes from the cafeteria doors and we all turn to see Sharon and Lacey standing a few feet away from each other. Lacey's face has a red handprint on the left cheek and Sharon's hands are clenched into fists.


	33. Chapter 33

**Hello, hello! So the next chapter will be total O'Wanda fluff! Super exciting, right? YOU KNOW IT! The beginning has some language (Shraon's quite the potty mouth) so sorry for that. Ok, enjoy!**

**Sunny POV**

_Oh no._ I sit there, frozen for a moment. I see Wanda cowering into Ian's side, shaking like crazy. He's rubbing his hand up and down her arm. Burns wraps his arms around me and I snuggle into his chest, even though I'm not really scared, just a little nervous. Mel's basically rooting on the fight and Jared's staring at the girls. Lily is holding Wes's hand and both of their hands are red, like they don't have any blood circulating to their fingers.

"You whore! Slut! Vagina licking bitch!" Sharon screams at Lacey. I personally think its a little funny, but I will myself not to laugh. Sharon's face is contorted with rage as she shoves Lacey into the wall. Lacey starts to kick and hit her and finally pushes her away long enough to punch her in the face. Sharon growls and grabs Lacey's hair. She pulls her head back and smashes it into the wall. The wall literally shook with the amount of force behind the push.

Sharon let go of Lacey, still leaning against the wall, and she fell to the ground, blood smearing on the wall in a long, thick streak. I heard someone gag and saw Wanda, face in her hands, trembling with fear. Ian and Mel started trying to keep her calm and tried to keep her from looking. I'm not THAT big of a baby, but that was pretty freaky. I look back at the girls and see that Lacey is being pulled up by Sharon again. Sharon makes sure she's going to stay standing and slaps her hard across her already broken and bloody face. Lacey doesn't fall, though.

Sharon punches her in the stomach, making Lacey bend over clutching her stomach. Sharon knees her in the face and Lacey falls back, all the fight beaten out of her. _Where are the teachers?_ I want to look away but I can't take my eyes off of Sharon and Lacey. I wonder what Lacey did. Eventually, Doc, this freaky smart kid who somehow likes Sharon and obviously hates his life enough to stay with her, pulls Sharon away as she kicks and screams at Lacey. I hear a few beeps and look around to see almost everyone with their phones out, videoing the fight.

They put up their phones and go back to lunch. Three kids run out the door holding their mouths. Yuck. Wanda's still shaking pretty bad so Burns and I get up and walk over to her. She looks up and basically attacks Burns, crying really hard. I can tell Ian feels awful about how freaked out Wanda is about the fight. That was the worst fight I've ever seen. It really wasn't even a fight by the end of it. More like a public beating.

Burns is whispering reassurances in Wanda's hair and she whimpers more, clearly not being helped at all. She starts to calm down and lets him go, walking back over to her seat beside Ian. She snuggles into his chest and he kisses her head. Shame is written all over her face. I pat her arm.

"Hey, you're not weak, Wanda. Just sensitive, that's all," She sniffles and nods, but doesn't answer. We basically sit in silence the rest of lunch. It was very boring. We all stand up and I walk to class with Jodi and Sam, who I haven't had an actual conversation with in what seems like forever. The next thing I know, the 3:00 bell rings and I'm off towards my locker. I hear a conversation at Wanda's locker between her, Mel, Jodi, and Sam.

"God, did you see her face when they sent her to the hospital?" Mel was saying.

"No, I didn't see that but I saw the fight videos," Jodi said. I get in the circle, patting Wanda on the shoulder.

"I saw the videos, too. But I did see her face because she came into the class I was in to get homework stuff. God, she took a beating. What did she do, anyways?" I ask. That has been bugging me since the fight.

"Well, I heard that Lacey was trying to flirt with Doc, but when he basically ignored her, she pushed him against the wall, I don't know where they were, and practically dry humped him. He shoved her off, but not without threatening both Doc and Lacey. She didn't hurt Doc, just basically broke up with him. Lacey was a different story," Jodi said, now in business mode. She always gets this way when talking about gossip.

"Oh my God. I bet Doc felt terrible. And if that's true, he didn't do anything wrong, just didn't shove Lacey away soon enough," We shake our heads. Ian, Kyle, Jared, Burns, and Wes come up to us and we tell them what caused the fight. Lily comes up a few minutes later, asking if we knew, which we did. Wanda hides herself in Ian's arms as we talk, but then the teachers tell us to get out of the school so we go to the parking lot.

"Well, we'll see you guys later," Ian says and he walks with Wanda tucked into his side and they get in his car. Burns puts his arm around my shoulders and walks me to my car. I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. His arms wound around my waist like vines around a fence. I feel my body lean against the car and I feel fire go through my body, setting my veins on fire from the passion. He releases my lips and I gasp in air as he leans his forehead against mine.

"Bye, Sunny," He says as he reluctantly lets me go. I pull his head down again and I give him one last kiss, feeling the fire spread once more before I let him go. I see I made his face look like a tomato as I drive away.

Burns and Wanda are so similar sometimes, I'm shocked they aren't blood relatives.

**Wanda POV**

I feel so pathetic. I can't even watch a fight without freaking out. Everyone else can. They all tried to tell me that it was a bad fight to watch and they had trouble watching, but they were at least able to watch without gagging. I feel so weak and frail. Too frail to be able to do anything that takes stomach. How can everyone deal with this? Ian squeeze my hand and I squeeze back, but I can't look at him. Is he embarrassed by me? I wouldn't blame anyone if they were.

"Are you ok, Wanda?" I shake my head. He sighs and pulls into my driveway. He parks, but we just sit there in silence. He reaches over a few minutes later and wipes away the tears that apparently were silently gliding down my face again. I look over at him and I can tell he's in pain, too. He thinks it's his fault. I smile a little, but he doesn't think I'm ok.

"I think I'll be fine if we go eat some Oreo's and peanut butter," I smile a little bigger and it makes him smile. I start thinking about everything that's happened since we had our favorite snack last. I unlocked the door and we walked into the kitchen. He got the Oreos and I got the peanut butter. We started to dip them and intertwined our arms and took a bite of Oreo, like the bride and groom do at weddings. We laughed and I felt a little better with him near me. I always feel better when he's with me.

Mel came home a little later with Burns. They kept repeating what Ian had been saying. I don't understand how they can say that. I'm not strong or brave. I told them and Burns stared at me in disbelief.

"Wanda, how can you say that? You're the bravest person I've ever met. Just looking at what you've been through is evidence to that," I shake my head.

"I'm not brave. I'm just a scared little mouse who can't do anything because I'm-"

"DON'T say it, Wanda. Don't you DARE say it. I've listened to you say this too many times and I'm not going to sit back and let you say that again," He walked over to me and took my hand. "You shouldn't put yourself down like this, it's bad for your self-esteem," I look around and everyone else is nodding and smiling. Ian and Burns squeeze my hands at the same time and I smile with everyone. I hear the door open and slam shut and some very angry footsteps come into the room.

"Hey, guys. I think you forgot about us!" Jamie said, Alecs following behind. They had a very pouty look on their faces and I smiled, walking over to them and wrapping my arms around both of them.

"I'm sorry. I though Mel and Burns would get you guys from school. They should have gotten you,"

Jamie and Alecs smiled and hugged me back. They let me go and Jamie looked at Mel.

"How could you forget about me?" Mel gave him a stubborn look.

"Well, YOU said that you didn't like me picking you up. Do you remember this? 'You're car is crappy and people will make fun of us if you pick us up from school. Don't drop me off, either, because they'll have to see your car.' So I just listened to you and didn't pick you guys up," Jamie mimicked her look and stood his ground. I sighed, knowing this would be a very long argument and I didn't want to hear it. I got up, ignoring both arguments. (Alecs and Burns started arguing, too) Ian followed me and wrapped his arms around me when we got in the other room, burying his face in my hair again. I smile and he lets me go, taking my hand and taking me out the door towards his car. I shut the front door quietly and we run to his car.

I wonder where we'll go.


	34. Chapter 34

**Wow, people! I now have 101 reviews! Thank you guys so much for reviewing and telling me what you think about the story! Also, sorry my author's notes are so long. I love to talk and tend to ramble on. I have a playlist I listened to when writing this is you want to listen to it as you read: "Never Gonna Be Alone" by Nickelback, "Beneath Your Beautiful" by Labrinth, "Demons" by Imagine Dragons, and "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. You can add more if you want, but that's what I had on repeat. If you have any more songs like this, please tell me! Ok, read on!**

**Ian POV**

I see the look of curiosity on her face and I grin as I pull out of the driveway. I don't even bother trying to wipe the grins off my face anymore. They seem to stay when she's beside me. I can't help looking at her from the corner of my eyes. She's just so perfect. There are no words to describe this angel to anyone. I'm sure everyone else would agree, but my feelings go much deeper than their feelings ever will. I fall more in love with her every day.

"Where are we going?" Wanda asks and I smile.

"It's a secret, Wanda," She gives me puppy dog eyes, but then smiles and goes back to looking out the window. I force myself to watch the road and look away from her. I need to keep her safe. I promised myself that I would and I plan to keep that promise.

We pull up into my driveway. See, I knew Kyle was taking Jodi somewhere and I think it's time to have some alone time with my love. We're always in a group and we need to be alone sometimes. I get out and open her door for her and she smiles, taking my hand as we walk to the door.

"This is my house, by the way," I knew that her curiosity was about to burst so I showed her around the house. She smiled and I went to the kitchen, Wanda tagging along behind me. We sit at the table and just talk for a while. We started to get hungry so she took stuff from the cabinets and started to make something.

"What do you like in your quesadilla?" I shake my head.

"You're not going to cook. I'll take you somewhere," Now she shakes her head.

"No, I haven't cooked I a while and I want to," She puts her hands on her hips and looks at me, her stubbornness breaking through. I roll my eyes.

"I like anything in them," She smiles and kisses my cheek and starts fixing them. I wrap my arms around her and nuzzle her neck, which I recently found out she really likes. She laughs and turns around in my arms, wrapping her arms around my waist.

"I really need to cook, honey. I'm sorry," I can tell she doesn't want to now, but I get an idea. I nod and kiss her before I let her go.

"Ok, I'll be back in a second," She nods, but I can tell she's worried that she upset me. I got to my room and turn on my stereo. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana comes on and I run quietly back to the kitchen where Wanda's moving around the kitchen, making supper. She's put her hair up in a bun on top of her head. I sneak up behind her again and kiss her at the back of her neck, just below her hairline. A shiver runs through her body and she gasps quietly.

She sits down everything, turning off the stove and turns to face me, a smile on her face. I lean down and kiss her. They next thing I know, I'm carrying her out of the room, my hands on her thighs.

**Melanie POV**

"Jamie, I didn't FORGET you! I just listened to you when you said my truck was ugly and embarrassing!" He rolls his eyes.

"Sure, Mel," His sarcasm is really starting to piss me off.

"Hey, guys? Where'd Wanda and Ian go?" Burns asks and we stare at him, eyes wide.

"Aren't they in the living room?" I ask, starting to get nervous. Where could they have gone? He shakes his head.

"Their bags aren't here and Ian's car's gone," Burns says.

My mind starts to race and I pull my phone out, sending a message to everyone.

**Melanie: Do you know where Ian and Wanda are?**

Everyone replies that they haven't seen them since school ended. I start to worry.

"Well, where in the hell could they have gone? I already asked Jeb if they were at the diner,"

"Maybe they went bowling?" Alecs says, but it sounds more like a question. Would they randomly go bowling? No, Wanda would probably prefer I go, too, if they went somewhere. I doubt they went shopping. Maybe he took her to eat somewhere. I realize I'm pacing across the room, thinking hard about possible places they would go.

Jeb said she needs to be home by the time he gets here. Or we should at least know where she is. We eventually get in Burns' car and just drive around town, looking everywhere we can think of for Ian's car since it wasn't in the driveway.

I'm seriously starting to worry. They wouldn't have left town, would they? As far as I know, they didn't have any money with them. Well, Wanda didn't, but Ian's not rich. God, I hope they weren't in an accident. I take my phone out again. Still nothing from Wanda. I decide that I should call her. She better pick up or I'll call again.

**Wanda POV**

I wake up to my phone buzzing. I groan when I see it's Mel.

"What is it?" Ian asks, waking up when I groaned.

"Mel's calling. He sits up with me and I answer.

"Hello?"

"WHERE THE _HELL_ ARE YOU? WE'VE BEEN DRIVING AROUND ALL _NIGHT _LOOKING FOR YOU!" No doubt Ian can hear her.

"Mel, please stop screaming at me,"

"SHUT UP, BURNS!" There's some talking in the background and then Burns is on the phone.

"Wanda, Jeb wants to know where you are. You don't have to leave right now, but we would feel a LOT better to know you're still in town at least," I smile.

"I'm at Ian's house," I put the phone on speaker and the phone starts to crackle a little. I hear voices again in the background. I roll my eyes at them.

"I assumed it was pretty obvious that we were here. I guess their stupider than I thought," I giggle and then Mel's back.

"Wanda, sorry for screaming at you. Come home when you want, but Jeb wanted you home at some point tonight," Ian and I laugh.

"Ok, Mel. And I forgive you for screaming at me,"

"Alright. Bye, Wanda,"

"Bye," I hang up and smile at Ian.

"We've got a little while before you have to go home," I giggle and he wraps me in his arms, kissing my neck.


	35. Chapter 35

**Hello! So sorry for not updating in so long! Stupid internet. So we have arrived at chapter 35 now, so that's amazing! Thank you all for reading this and taking interest in it blah, blah, blah. So it's almost Halloween and this is dedicated to that. I actually got the idea from the Backwoods Asylum that is down here. I went to it and was blinded by strobe lights and walked right into a chainsaw guy. *shudder* Freaky stuff. So, everything in this chapter is from that. We're skipping to a few weeks later because I really didn't want to write about Mel and everyone else screaming at Ian and Wanda. Enjoy!**

**Wanda POV**

I walk through the front door, Ian following behind me. We're laughing and I throw my bag on the couch. Mel comes in a few minutes later, waving something in the air. She tosses two over to Ian and I. I stare at it, fear already consuming me.

**Backwoods Asylum Ticket**

**When ticket is valid: Friday at midnight**

**Carters Valley Firehouse (the woods below it)**

Ian smiles, thanking Mel.

"Who all's going with us?" Ian asks, excitement evident in his voice.

"Well, Jared got one for everyone, but Kyle can't go through it because he's actually helping with it. Everyone else is going, though," Mel says, excitement coating each word, inviting the fear to come and consume her. I start to shake as Ian nods. If Kyle's doing it and he knows I'm going through it, who knows what'll happen to me.

"Cool," I say as I stand up and walk as fast as I can to the kitchen.

I'm really scared. I don't want to be grabbed at again. A few tears leak out so I wipe them away before Ian and Mel come in here.

**Ian POV**

Damn it. I forgot everything she's been through. She'd probably have a heart attack or something in there. It should be pretty freaky because Kyle's doing it with the fire department. Every year, the best one is the one the fire department does. I wonder which part of it scares Wanda the most. I look at Mel and I can tell she just realized our stupidity. We both walk into the kitchen to see poor Wanda sitting at the counter, eating Oreos dipped in peanut butter. She's very nervous because she's still shaking. She looks up at us as we walk in and sit beside her.

"Is Burns going?" She asks, still shaking. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her into my side.

"We haven't given him his ticket yet so we don't know. Jared was going to take his to him later, but I don't if he has yet," Mel says, Wanda still shaking.

"You don't have to go, Wanda, if you don't want to. We're not forcing you to go," She shakes her head and pulls out her phone.

**Burns POV**

I feel something fall on my shoulder and pick it up. It's a ticket to that asylum thing. I look up and see Jared looking at me. I roll my eyes and he breaks out into a grin.

"You gonna go, Burns?" He says as he hands one to Sunny. She smiles a little, but I can see her nerves through it. I've been getting better at reading her emotions. I squeeze her hand.

"I don't think I will. Both mine and Wanda's lives could be a Stephen King book, Jared, and I don't really think it would do either of us any good to go through that. Who knows what Wanda's reaction will be to going through one of these things," I wave the ticket through the air in front of his face as his grin starts to fade. "If Wanda's not going, I'm sure as hell not going,"

"Well, If you don't go, I won't either, Burns," Sunny says, squeezing my hand. She stands up and walks over to the CD player and turns down "California Love" by 2Pac, which is not really fitting our mood right now. It makes me want to grin; the song that happened to come on when we got to my house, but then I think about my childhood and that feeling goes away.

"Sorry. We shouldn't have went and got them. Mel's probably already given Wanda hers by now," I shake my head.

"How could you guys forget this very important part of our pasts?" He looks down, not meeting my eyes. Sunny senses my aggravation and squeezes my hand as the song changes to "Bring me to Life" by Evanescence, which was in "Daredevil," a movie about everyone should watch at least once. It freaked Wanda out, but I liked it. I watch Sunny play with my fingers.

"Sorry, man. I didn't even think about that. I don't know how I could forget what she looked like when she came here," My head snapped back to him.

"What did she look like?" Sadness is written all over his face.

"She was so skinny, like she didn't eat. Her face was hollow and she looked so pathetic. She never looked at anyone, just stayed beside Mel and kept her head down and mouth shut. Dark circles were under her eyes like she didn't sleep. Mel said she used to cry and scream in her sleep. It was awful, man. Once she'd been here for a while, she started to gain some weight and sleep more. Mel says she still cries sometimes, though," I blinked back tears and stared at our hands, Sunny stopped playing with my fingers.

"I remember that. I never really paid her any attention when she looked that awful. I thought that she took pot or something. I never knew," She shakes her head. I squeeze her hand and smile a sad smile at her. A tear leaks over and rolls down her face. I wiped it away and my phone buzzed.

**Wanda: Hey, are you going to go to the asylum thing?**

"It looks like Mel gave her and Ian their tickets. She probably won't go without me," I sigh, a small smile on my face.

**Burns: Sure. I know our past isn't the best, but that can't rule my life. If you don't want to go, though, I'll stay with you. Or not. It doesn't really matter to me.**

She replies in seconds.

**Wanda: No, I'll go. I just wanted to know if you were.**

**Burns: Don't worry. Ian and I'll protect you. ;)**

**Wanda: :P**

**Burns: *laughs***

**Wanda: Stop it.**

**Burns: Stop what?**

I sat there for a few minutes, waiting for her to reply how I know she will.

**Wanda: Being so…Burnsy.**

We all start laughing at her reply.

**Wanda: And stop laughing at me!**

**Ian: Her face might burn off. I guess that's why your name's Burns. *elbow***

**Burns (replying to Ian): Good one!**

**Burns (replying to Wanda): I'm not laughing. I'm chuckling.**

**Wanda: Whatever. Bye, Burns!**

**Burns: Bye, Wanda! *waves***

"You two are SO siblings," Sunny says as I toss my phone back on the coffee table.

"You know it," I say as Alecs walks in, throwing his backpack at me, and stomps off into the kitchen. A few seconds later, he stomps back in here and opens his backpack, pulling out a few binders.

"Forgot my homework," He says, obviously angry, and stomps back into the kitchen. We all stifle our laughter. I have great little siblings.

But I'm the best damn older brother ever. I have a shirt to prove it.

**Wanda POV**

**Friday night about 11:35**

I hustle around my room and stop again in front of my mirror. I have on boot cut jeans over some heeled grey ankle boots, a long sleeved Aeropostale shirt, and a grey Aeropostale sweatshirt on. I'm already shaking I'm so nervous. I hear a knock downstairs at the door and run down to get it. As soon as the door opens, Ian engulfs me in a hug and when he lets me go, Burns does the same. Once he lets me go, I try to hide in Ian's side. Mel comes running down and looks at us.

"I thought Jared was coming with you guys,"

"He's waiting in the car," Burns says and she rolls her eyes. We follow her out the door, but I poke my head back in to see Jamie and Alecs sitting on the couch.

"You guys stay out of trouble," They roll their eyes.

"Don't worry. Get scared enough for all three of us," Jamie says, smiles creeping up on their faces. I roll my eyes.

"I'm already there," They laugh as I close the door. I take Ian's hand and Sunny takes Burns hand when he gets to Jared's car. I get in Ian's car and we all drive down there. By the time we get there, I'm on the verge of tears I'm so scared. Burns takes my other hand, but I can't calm down or relax at all. My nerves just start to get worse as we stand in line. Sunny starts to talk to me, trying to calm my nerves, and I start to relax a little. That's when a guy with a chainsaw runs over at us and goes right at me. Sunny and I back up as fast we can and we're both screaming. Once he goes on, we go back to the others. Mel's laughing at us and both Sunny and I are very embarrassed and I'm more freaked out now.

Ian just hugs me and says I'll be fine.

"Yeah, they can't," I look up at Sunny and Jodi.

"Can't what?"

"Touch you. It's illegal," Jodi says as she pats my hand.

"Didn't stop people before," I mumble, but I don't think anyone but Ian heard. His arm tightens around me and I stop shaking as bad after a few minutes. Then, the chainsaw guy comes back, except from the other direction. I freeze this time and hold on to Ian, squeezing my eyes shut really tight. Once the sound dies down, I open my eyes and everyone's smiling at me.

"There you go, Wanda. Just shut your eyes and you'll be fine," Jodi says and then I hear a gunshot and start to shake again, remembering.

_I hear another shot and I turn towards the house. It looks fine. I turn around fully and that's when I see movement. Ally comes stomping towards us and Burns stands in front of me while I cling to his arm. She's got the gun in her hand and points it to Burns' chest._

"_How DARE you! I've treated you both like my own children and then you plan to get with my actual daughter?" Burns shakes his head._

"_I told her I didn't want to be with her. She's more of a sister to me, like Wanda's like my sister," She slaps him, but he doesn't fall. That's when I let him go and shove her back._

"_Your daughter is nowhere near the angel you say she is. She's nothing but a-" I feel a sharp sting spread across my left cheek and the ground starts to get closer as the sky and Ally get farther away. The world goes black._

I blink and look at Burns. We both start to rub our cheeks at the memory. I can still feel the pain. We were sent away the next day. I hear anther gunshot and start to worry. I hear screams, too, and my shaking won't stop. We turn around and see a guy with a walky-talky coming up. He stops and points at Burns.

"Who's in your group?" Burns points to all of us and the guy smiles. "Ok, follow me, then," Mel pats my head as she walks by, smiling reassuringly at me, but I don't feel any better. I'm still pretty freaked out, especially since we're going in the dark woods. We walk into this building and this other guy takes our tickets. We have to sit down and listen to this fat guy tell you not to run and all this stuff. An alarm goes off on the video and a guy in a mask with a handheld gun comes in and shoots him. The second guy tells us to walk on the path and so we walk.

The first thing we get to is a swinging bridge, which wasn't that bad, except we had to go one at a time so I got very nervous. Ian was right behind me, though, so when we got across he tucked me back into his side. A zombie jumps out at us from behind a tree and Ian pulls me on past it. We walk into this other building thing and strobe lights are shining inside. I can't really see because it looks like the world is tilting and I couldn't really walk straight.

There's a guy in a clown mask that jumped out at us and I kind of bolted into a wall. I get out of the room into a new room and see Ian in there. He hugs me again and Jodi starts walking in front of us again. She hasn't jumped once. We go into a few more rooms with virtually the same thing, but it still manages to freak me out every time. We got out of the building like part and found another bridge.

"There might be a troll under the bridge," Burns says, trying to make me smile and calm down a little. I don't, I just get more nervous. Nothing was under the bridge, but another clown was behind this metal thing.

"Hey, Kyle. Having fun?" Jodi asks as she walks by. He just shakes his head. I just shake some more from nerves. He waves at us as we walk away. A few more chainsaw guys and clowns later, we make it to a cross road. If you go through the tunnel like thing, you have more, but you can quit now. Everyone but Jodi, Jared, and Mel quit. We walk by something that looks like a house and, how shocking, another chainsaw guy follows us up the hill, making me freak out a whole lot more because he walked right behind Ian and I. Eventually, we make it up the hill and he walks away, but I'm still freaked. I look at everyone and shake my head.

"I'm NEVER doing that again," They laugh, but Ian squeezes me tighter.

I look up at him and he kisses me, making me grin, which makes him grin. We break away and start trying to keep from getting bored as we wait for Jodi, Mel, and Jared to get through the second half. I hear a few screams, definitely Mel, and then they're finished, but not without Mel screaming one more time. When they get in sight, Mel's smacking Jared's arm and Jodi's laughing.

"That was NOT funny, Jared!" Jared just laughs at her. She shakes her head and I see her face is red.

"What did he do?" Ian asks, holding back laughter.

"He grabbed my shoulders and shook me!" We all erupt in laughter. And I stop being scared and stop shaking.

I actually feel much braver than before.


End file.
